HEALTH 
EbrEvayDw HEALTH FOR EVERY DAY 
BY / 
MAURICE A. BIGELOW, Ph.D. 
PROFESSOR OF BIOLOGY AND DIRECTOR OF THE SCHOOL OF PRACTICAL 
ARTS, TEACHERS COLLEGE, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 
J 
AND 
/ 
JEAN BROADHURST, Ph.D. 
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF BIOLOGY, TEACHERS COLLEGE, 
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 
SILVER, BURDETT AND COMPANY 
NEW YORK NEWARK BOSTON CHICAGO SAN FRANCISCO Copyright, 1924, by 
SILVER, BURDETT AND COMPANY PREFACE 
This book, Health for Every Day, is a book on personal 
health. The second book of this series, Health in Home and 
Neighborhood, summarizes in review form many of the chief 
principles of personal health presented in the first book; but 
it is mainly concerned with the healthful or sanitary arrange- 
ment and management of homes, schools and the neighbor- 
hood. The internal machinery of the human body will be 
introduced in the second book as far as is helpful to an under- 
standing of personal healthful conditions in the home, in the 
school and in the neighborhood. 
In the books of this series, Health is made to mean more than 
the merely physical to which it is usually limited. Health 
Education should no longer have such narrow boundaries, but 
should be extended to include many problems which concern 
the mental and social as well as the physical welfare or well- 
being of humans. From this modern point of view such topics 
as good manners and good character are matters of health 
or well-being not less important than digestion and respira- 
tion and germ diseases, with which textbooks in this subject 
commonly deal. In short, the field of the New Health Educa- 
tion is much broader than that covered by the old type of 
textbooks in physiology and hygiene. 
The teacher, school administrator, or school officer who is 
familiar with the older textbooks in physiology and hygiene 
will at once notice the absence of descriptions and pictures re- 
lating to the anatomy and physiology of internal organs ("in- 
sides," the children call them).. The.only references in Health 
for Every Day to such parts of the body as heart, lungs, liver, 
III IV 
PREFACE 
intestines, nervous system, etc., are in the general terms familiar 
to everybody and, therefore, requiring no scientific description 
for the application to health covered by this book. Extensive 
study of health teaching in elementary schools has convinced 
the authors that, before the upper grades, the scientific study, 
as such, of the internal organs is a waste of time and in fact 
dulls the interest even before pupils are old enough to begin 
the study of real anatomy and physiology of the body. Chil- 
dren of the age for which this book is intended should acquire 
clear ideas concerning good health and should form correct 
health habits under the guidance of their teachers and parents. 
At this age pupils do not need to understand, in fact they cannot 
be made to understand, the physiological reasons for good 
health habits. 
A second feature of Health for Every Day is that at the very 
beginning of the book emphasis is placed on accidents and other 
avoidable dangers. No other line of personal hygiene is so 
easily applied by children or more needed during the entire 
school year. Therefore the authors believe that Health Educa- 
tion should properly begin with a study of the prevention of 
accidents and the avoiding of other dangers. The teacher 
should lose no opportunity to emphasize the safety rules taught 
in the first lessons. 
A third characteristic of this first book is the nature-study 
basis of many of the health topics. This method of approach 
to health lessons for children was outlined and discussed by one 
of the authors of this book in the Nature Study Review, Volume 
II, 1906. The general idea has been worked out successfully 
by many teachers who have made their own outlines, but there 
has long been need of a textbook which uses nature-study for 
teaching health. 
A fourth feature of this book is that the authors have tried to 
make it a real guide for the study and practice of health. It 
offers to the pupils numerous problems to be solved, things to PREFACE 
V 
be done, and questions which may be answered only by careful 
thinking. 
A fifth feature is the application of the principles of silent 
reading to the study of this book. For this important contri- 
bution the authors are indebted to Miss Laura Zirbes, Inves- 
tigator of Reading in the Lincoln School, and Lecturer in 
Teachers College, Columbia University. At the close of each 
chapter will be found silent reading exercises under the head- 
ing, 11 Things to Ask, Answer, Tell, or Do." These were pre- 
pared by Miss Zirbes, assisted by Miss Della Weed. 
Before beginning class work with this book, the teacher should 
turn to the Suggestions to Teachers and study the discussion of 
changes in educational method, and the application of the 
principles of silent reading to Health for Every Day. Espe- 
cially should the teacher pay attention to the directions which 
Miss Zirbes has given for setting up real purposes for silent 
reading and to the interesting possibilities for further activity 
upon the part of the pupil aside from the use of the silent 
reading exercises at the end of each chapter. 
The silent reading exercises have been carefully prepared 
with a view to covering all the important points in the text in 
such a way as to test the child's ability to read effectively, 
that is, to understand and apply what he is reading. At the 
same time these exercises will tend to stimulate the interest of 
pupils in the subject matter. The teacher who supplements the 
required work at the end of each chapter by a thoughful appli- 
cation of the ideas contained in the last pages of the "suggestions" 
will develop the greatest possible interest of her pupils. 
A sixth feature, which the authors regard as of fundamental 
importance, is the extensive use of pictures for teaching health 
lessons. That pictures furnish one of the very best means for 
teaching health lessons to children is no longer questioned. 
The illustrations in this book are in most cases new to text- 
books, and have been planned in harmony with the purposes of VI 
PREFACE 
the book. The legends which accompany the illustrations are 
descriptive, and supplement the text with useful information 
which should be regarded as an integral part of it. It is im- 
portant, therefore, that the particular attention of the pupils 
should be directed to the illustrations. 
The authors acknowledge their indebtedness to many persons 
who have helped in the preparation of the manuscript, espe- 
cially to Professor Gilbert H. Trafton of the State Normal 
School at Mankato, Minnesota, and to Dr. Ellen Eddy Shaw 
of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, who read the manuscript 
critically; and to Mrs. Maurice Ricker and Mrs. Dorothy E. 
Doubble for numerous photographs and drawings. 
Since the teacher of Health needs much supplemental infor- 
mation which only a special teacher has time to glean from the 
numerous reference books, few of which are available for the 
average busy teacher, a teacher's manual is provided to help 
those who use Health for Every Day. 
Maurice A. Bigelow 
Jean Broadhurst 
Teachers College, Columbia University CONTENTS 
CHAPTER PAGE 
I Accidents and Dangers to Health . . i 
II Play and Work 36 
III Rest and Sleep 71 
IV Food and Water 84 
V Air and Health 115 
VI Clothing and the Skin 131 
VII Keeping Clean 145 
VIII Enemies Too Small to See 161 
IX Our Sense Organs and Their Care . . 180 
X Alcohol and Other Harmful Drugs . . 206 
XI Self-Control 225 
Suggestions to Teachers i 
Index ix 
VII Fig. i. Healthy and Happy Childhood 
These children are getting both sunshine and outdoor air as they play 
"London Bridge is Falling Down" on a recreation pier in New York City. 
{Photograph by Elliott H. Wendell) CHAPTER I 
ACCIDENTS AND DANGERS TO HEALTH 
This whole book has been written to show you how 
to keep well and strong. Leaf over the pages and see 
how many different things affect health. Watch the 
older members of your family to find out how much 
of their time is spent in doing things that relate to 
health: bathing the baby, washing the dishes, cleaning 
the house, preparing food, and many other things. 
Since health is so important, why should any of us 
risk losing it by our own carelessness? Even the 
strongest body can be injured or made helpless for life 
by a single careless act. Yet many people act as if 
health were the last thing to be considered, and take 
any and every risk that comes along. They forget 
how much work a broken leg may mean for the other 
people at home. They do not realize how much money 
one illness or accident may take - money which ought 
to be spent on good food, comfortable clothes, and rest- 
ful pleasures for the rest of the family. 
Many kinds of work that must be done are dangerous. 
Here are some examples of such work: mining coal, 
quarrying rocks, making powder and other explosives, 
working with high power electrical machinery, repair- 
ing wires on high poles, digging tunnels under rivers, 
1 2 
HEALTH FOR EVERY DAY 
and working on tall buildings. The insurance com- 
panies call such work "extra hazardous," and charge for 
insuring the workers more than they charge for those 
engaged in ordinary work. Is there any work done in 
your neighborhood which your father says is dangerous? 
Fig. 2. In 1921 a kind man in Pennsylvania made a wooden leg for this 
injured robin. Is an artificial leg ever as good as a real one for birds or 
children? {Wide World Photos) 
We all admire people who are willing to lose their 
lives or health to save others from harm or death. It 
is not brave to take meedless risks, yet many people 
do so constantly. 
What useless risks have you noticed people take 
recently? Have you seen one accident that might 
have been prevented? What are the dangers that you 
might meet between your home and the schoolhouse? ACCIDENTS AND DANGERS TO HEALTH 
3 
Warnings to protect people. Many kinds of warn- 
ings are now used to prevent accidents. In the railroad 
cars there are signs which caution us not to put our 
heads out of the windows; along the road, signs warn 
us of dangerous railroad crossings; and workmen put 
up danger signals when they leave holes or places 
which are not safe in the street or road. Many special 
Fig. 3. You cannot keep your eye on the ball and look out for automo- 
biles at the same time. (Photograph by Edith Ricker) 
devices for preventing accidents have been invented. 
Railroads often have lights that warn the engineer 
when another train is on the single track between him 
and the switch ahead; street railways have similar 
signals to warn their motormen; trap doors opening 
into the street often ring bells as they open, so that 
people walking by will not be injured; and many 4 
HEALTH FOR EVERY DAY 
motor cars now have a special light or sign which 
warns the driver behind it when a car is going to slow 
down or turn a corner. 
Our magazines and newspapers are constantly print- 
ing articles warning people to Avoid Accidents, or 
recommending Safety First. Some people think that 
Don't Get Hurt would be a better warning. Which 
would make you more careful? Which would make 
most of the boys and girls you know stop and think 
before doing dangerous and risky things? 
FILL OUT THESE DANGER SIGNS AND 
WRITE OTHERS YOU HAVE SEEN: 
Look out for the 
Safety 
School 400 feet ahead: drive 
Stop, look and 
Watch your s 
Don't get h 
Dangerous curve, Keep to r 
Cross crossings c- 
No s allowed in this factory 
Beware of the d-- 
Speed limit miles per hour 
Dangerous places for play. Big sand piles and wheat 
bins and even coal piles are dangerous places for little 
children, because the material may slide with them 
and carry them down and cover them up. Sand and 
wheat are especially dangerous because they are made 
of fine grains which pack so closely together that they 
may shut out the air. Why is it dangerous for children ACCIDENTS AND DANGERS TO HEALTH 
5 
to dig caves and tunnels in high piles of sand and loose 
soil? Watch out for the smaller children who might be 
injured playing around sand piles, even those which 
are only a few feet high. 
Coasting on streets or roads where there are trolley 
cars or automobiles is dangerous, especially if there are 
cross streets or turns. Is there a dangerous coasting 
place near your home or school? 
Fig. 4. When you walk behind a trolley car, look out for cars or auto- 
mobiles coming in the opposite direction. {Photograph by Edith Ricker) 
Accidents in games. Some years ago the football 
rules were changed to give each boy on the team a 
better chance to play and to make it a safer game. 
Are there any games played in your schoolyard or 
in your town that are too dangerous? If so, can you 
think of new rules to make them safer? 
Street and road dangers. On streets and roads the 
greatest dangers to life are the motor cars and trucks. 
Trolleys and trains travel on their own rails, so you 6 
HEALTH FOR EVERY DAY 
can always see when a crossing is safe, if you take the 
time to look. It is harder to know about motor cars. 
They come so fast, and can whisk around a corner so 
rapidly, that they often surprise even careful people. 
Fig. 5. What may happen if this boy falls when another truck is close 
behind? {Photograph by Edith Ricker') 
Many drivers are very selfish and careless, and all 
children should be sure to look in both directions before 
crossing a street or road. Why should we not cross 
the street in the middle of the block? 
Sometimes, when several children are crossing the 
street together, they get frightened by a car and run 
in different directions. Even a careful driver doesn't 
know in which direction to turn his car then; so in 
crossing a street with other children, look carefully 
before you cross, and keep close together. ACCIDENTS AND DANGERS TO HEALTH 
7 
Tying sleds, coasters, and small wagons behind auto- 
mobiles or trucks is dangerous. Even more so is hold- 
ing to a car while you are on roller skates or a bicycle. 
Even if the driver can see you, it is not fair to expect 
him to keep on the lookout for children who are where 
they have no right to be. 
One of the most dangerous things that children do 
is to hang on behind wagons, street cars, or motor cars. 
Most of the accidents come from falling. You never 
can tell when a sudden turn or jolt may make it impos- 
sible for you to hold on. Even if the wagon or car is 
going slowly, it may be dangerous to drop off because 
automobiles may be following. 
Another way in which children in our northern states 
often cause accidents to themselves and to older 
people is by making ice slides on the pavements. 
These places sometimes become covered up by the 
snow, and older people slip and injure themselves 
when walking over them. Slides of that kind should 
be covered with sand or ashes before the snow hides 
them or before you leave them for the night. 
Can you think of anything better for boy or girl 
scouts to do than to prevent such accidents by sprin- 
kling ashes over all slippery places on the pavements? 
How could you help horses on the slippery spots of the 
streets or roads? 
Cars and machinery. What is the right way to get 
out of a street car? to get on? to step on and off a 
moving stairway or escalator? to get out of an elevator? 
Why is it best not to get into an elevator unless the 8 
HEALTH FOR EVERY DAY 
Fig. 6. Which boy is getting off this bus in the right way? Why 
would the other boy find it hard to keep his balance as he steps off? 
{Photograph by Edith Ricker) 
elevator man is there? What might happen in stepping 
off or on a moving elevator? 
Which boy in Figure 6 is stepping off in the direc- 
tion in which the bus is going? Is he more likely to 
fall than the other boy? 
On June 30, 1922, four boys in New York City 
sneaked up to a motor car parked beside the curb and ACCIDENTS AND DANGERS TO HEALTH 
9 
released the brake. The car rolled down the hill, ran 
into a place where a man was digging a cellar, and 
crushed him. Who was responsible for that man's 
death? Four foolish boys, who were too cowardly to 
own up to what they had done and who had to be 
hunted up by the police. 
Many accidents are caused by people who handle 
machinery and other things they have no right to 
touch. It is foolish to go where heavy or dangerous 
machinery is at work. We should always obey 
Danger and Keep Out Signs. 
Hundreds of people are killed every year while walk- 
ing along railroad tracks, in spite of the signs that 
tell them to keep away. Whose fault is this? 
Many people think it is "smart" to see how near 
they can go to the edge of a cliff or roof. Even brave 
people often grow dizzy when on high places, such as 
trestles and cliffs, especially if water is moving below 
them. The sensible thing is to stay away from such 
places - even if foolish people try to dare you or 
tease you to go. 
Dangerous fun. Every year we read of a boy or 
girl who pushed or tripped another child just for the 
fun of hearing him cry out or of seeing him fall. Last 10 
HEALTH FOR EVERY DAY 
year one little girl in Brooklyn was made lame for life 
by a boy who tripped her as she walked down the 
schoolroom aisle. In the same month a little boy in 
New Jersey was tripped on a stone stair by a bigger 
boy, and his skull was fractured. In neither case did 
the boy mean to hurt the other child; he did it "for 
fun." Pulling chairs out from under people, ducking 
or pushing them overboard, or putting strings across 
the path are all mean kinds of play. What do you 
Fig. 7. A small electric torch 
may be bought for about sixty 
cents. Is it worth "taking a 
chance" with matches? 
think would be the right thing to do with a person 
who shows so little sense in his fun? How can we 
make boys and girls feel that such things are not at all 
funny? 
Danger from fires. In Chicago about fifty years ago, 
five hundred people were killed and one hundred thou- 
sand other people lost their homes, just because one 
careless person put a lantern down in the hay or straw 
while milking a cow. It is said that the cow kicked 
the lantern over and that started a fire that burned 
down a great part of the city. ACCIDENTS AND DANGERS TO HEALTH 
11 
We ought to use electric flash lights instead of lan- 
terns or matches in places where there is material such 
as paper, excelsior, hay, gasoline, and natural or arti- 
ficial gas, that catches fire easily. There are not so 
many fires from Christmas trees since people began 
using small electric lights instead of candles. Should 
Fig. 8. This girl is rolling over and over to put out the fire. Why would 
it have helped if someone had wrapped a coat or rug around her also? 
"artificial snow," made of cotton, be used for Christ- 
mas decorations? Why are Fourth of July fires so 
frequent? 
Do not leave matches where mice or rats can chew 
them and so start a fire. Keep matches in a closed 
box made of some material like tin that will not burn, 
or else use safety matches. 
Putting out fires. Fires cannot burn without air. 
Light a little candle and put it inside a lamp chimney. 
Does it burn as well, with the chimney around it, as it 
did before? Cover the top of the chimney with a 12 
HEALTH FOR EVERY DAY 
piece of tin or a jelly glass cover. What happens to the 
flame then? 
Why do we open the stove door below the coal or 
wood, or open the damper in the stovepipe, when we 
want the fire to burn faster or brighter? Why do we 
fan a fire when we want it to burn better? Why are 
there openings at the bottom of gas and kerosene 
burners? 
If you wanted to put out a little fire, how would you 
do it? Sometimes little children play too near a bon- 
Fig. 9. These strips of cotton (c) and woolen (w) cloth were each eight 
inches long and they had burned two minutes before this picture was 
made. Which dress material is less dangerous near an open fire? 
fire and their clothing catches on fire. Why does the 
fire burn faster if they get frightened and run away? 
How could you help put out such a fire? 
If a fire starts in the house, what could you use to 
smother the flames? Would cotton dresses or woolen 
coats be better to cover the burning clothes? Which 
burns faster? Your teacher will help you answer 
these questions by performing an experiment in which 
she burns strips of cotton and woolen cloth. Which 
kind of clothing is more likely to catch fire when near 
a fireplace or a bonfire? ACCIDENTS AND DANGERS TO HEALTH 
13 
Have you a fire extinguisher in your schoolroom? 
What is in the fire extinguisher? How does it work? 
Read the directions carefully to see how to use it in 
case the teacher is not in the room when a fire starts. 
In some cities firemen go to every school once a year 
and tell the children how to put out fires and how fire 
Fig. io. To use this kind of fire extinguisher 
you must turn it upside down so that the acid 
and soda become mixed and make a gas which 
when poured upon a fire will smother it. 
extinguishers work. Who will do that for your school? 
Perhaps the boys and girls in the high school chemistry 
and physics classes could do it. Twenty-six of our 
states have laws requiring the schools to teach fire 
prevention. Is your state one of them? 
Avoiding fire dangers. In time of fire most people 
become very frightened and "lose their heads." Do 
you think you would be one of those who "keep their 
heads"? 
In almost every case of fire there is a safe way to 
get out. Often all the people rush for the same door 
or window, and so they get jammed together in the 14 
HEALTH FOR EVERY DAY 
hallway or on the stairs. Sometimes one person falls 
down and others fall over him, blocking the passage- 
way; and then many people may be hurt. 
If other people rush, stand back out of the way. You 
will have a better chance after the crowd has passed. 
Fig. ii. Does the fire extinguisher in your 
school work in the same way that this 
one does? 
Besides, you may find a way then that you were too 
frightened to see before. 
When you go into a moving picture house, a lecture 
hall, a theater, a hotel, or even a strange apartment 
house, notice where the exits are, and decide what 
would be the sensible thing for you to do if some one 
called "Fire!" 
How many fire exits are there in your school build- 
ing? From how many places could children in your 
schoolroom reach the ground safely? Could your class ACCIDENTS AND DANGERS TO HEALTH 
15 
get out in five minutes? in three minutes? At the next 
school fire drill pretend there is a real fire, to see if the 
class can keep from becoming excited, and can get to 
the ground in less time than ever before. 
How many ways are there of getting out of your 
house and down to the ground? How long would it 
Fig. 12. This boy knew that in running through smoke the baby should 
be wrapped in a blanket, and a wet cloth should be tied around his own 
mouth and nose. 
take you to get out if you were up and dressed? How 
long would it take you to get out of bed, dress, and 
get to a safe place? Why not play that getting up 
and dressing in the morning is part of a fire drill? 
Time yourself to see exactly how many minutes it 
takes, and then try every day to beat your own 
record. 16 
HEALTH FOR EVERY DAY 
Another thing every one should do is to decide what 
is the thing most worth saving in case of a fire. People 
often carry out useless things. Once at a fire a man 
was seen carrying something out of a house, holding it 
carefully in both hands; he took it across the road and 
put it down in a big armchair. What do you think 
he had carried out of that burning house? It was an 
old gingham apron! 
Every member of the family should have some idea 
of what he could do to help most. Who sleeps nearest 
the baby's bedroom? Who is strong enough to help 
grandma out? Who can be trusted to pick out the 
best clothes and tie them into a sheet with good strong 
knots? If there is much smoke, who'll know where 
to find some big handkerchiefs which can be wet to 
tie around the mouth and nose? A wet handkerchief 
needn't be kept over the mouth all the time; you can 
pull it down, and let it lie around your neck until you 
are in a smoky place. 
Why we should learn to swim. Do you know of 
any one who was drowned because he did not know 
how to swim? 
Is there any place near by where you can learn to 
swim? If not, learn the swimming motions by bal- 
ancing yourself on a stool, practicing them until you 
can make your legs and arms move in the proper way 
with good strong strokes. Practice floating when lying 
on your back in the bathtub, or in water not over two 
feet deep. 
Even though you learn to do these things, you may ACCIDENTS AND DANGERS TO HEALTH 
17 
not be able to swim if you accidentally fall into the 
water, because falling into the water frightens most 
people very much. Still, practice may help a little. 
If you know the strokes, it will not take you long to 
learn when you do have a chance to go into the water. 
Fig. 13. Spools, big corks, or even pieces of corn-cobs can be used as 
guards for the sharp points of tools like knives or scissors. 
If a person who cannot swim falls into the water, 
what can he do to help himself? 
It is much harder to swim with one's clothes on, and 
that is one reason why people should be very careful 
Fig. 14. Why are these dangerous? How can accidents with them be 
prevented? 
about moving around when they are in small boats, 
and about skating or walking on thin ice. Even peo- 
ple who can swim well in their bathing suits may be 
unable to swim when their heavy clothes become filled 
with water. 18 
HEALTH FOR EVERY DAY 
Dangerous tools. Once a paper printed an advertise- 
ment like this: 
Send 30 cents and an addressed envelope to 
to find out how to use a knife without cutting yourself. 
Many people sent money, and all they received in 
return was a little printed card like this, which told 
them something they had known all their lives. 
CUT FROM YOU 
This is one of many rules you should know about 
the use of sharp or dangerous tools. How should you 
carry scissors? a sharp knife that doesn't close up? a 
Fig. 15. Why is this the proper way to open a knife? 
sickle or grass hook? an ax or a hatchet? How should 
you open a penknife that has a stiff spring? 
Keeping smaller children from getting hurt. The 
Little Mothers League in New York City teaches little 
girls how to care for the babies in their families. Last 
year in New York State there were ten thousand little 
girls who were members of Little Mother's clubs. How 
many girls in your school belong to such clubs? 
What are some of the ways Little Mothers or Big 
Brothers could keep smaller children out of danger? ACCIDENTS AND DANGERS TO HEALTH 
19 
Make a Little Mother's card or a Big Brother's card 
which gives all the things older girls or boys should 
keep in mind to guard and protect little children on 
the city streets or in the country. 
Children have been seriously injured by older boys 
Fig. i 6. What dangerous thing is this two-year-old holding ? What 
might happen if she were startled or fell out of her chair? (Photograph 
by Edith Ricker) 
and girls who enjoy scaring or frightening younger 
children. In 1923 several children pretended to bury 
one little girl alive in sand, and after months of illness 
she finally died from the effects of that terrible ex- 20 
HEALTH FOR EVERY DAY 
perience. The same year two boys pretended that they 
were going to burn two younger boys whom they tied 
to a stake; the fire which they started got beyond their 
control and killed both of the smaller boys. 
No one has any right to scare or frighten little 
children. It may make them very nervous, even if it 
Fig. 17. This sad-eyed girl is too small to be a member of a Little Mother's 
League, but she must watch the baby's carriage while the mother works 
to earn money to buy food. {Courtesy of Henry Street Settlement) 
does no other harm to them. Only very thoughtless or 
stupid or mean boys and girls act in such ways. It 
is almost as mean to scare animals, such as dogs and 
cats. What do you think of a boy who would tie a 
tin can or a fire cracker to a dog's tail? How should 
such a mean boy be punished? ACCIDENTS AND DANGERS TO HEALTH 
21 
Mouth and throat accidents. Little babies some- 
times swallow things that choke them, or poke things 
into their ears or noses. There are other accidents that 
may happen to older children's mouths or noses or 
ears. Sometimes they choke on something that they 
have been holding in the mouth, such as a pin. Or 
OF tty 
X BUREAU OF (JQg) CHILD HYGIENE //Z 
certifies that 
has satisfactorily completed an approved course In Infant Care 
and Is honorably enrolled as one of Little Mothers of Texas. 
Th 15 day of 19 
state health officer. 
NURSE. DIRECTOR BUREAU OF CHILO HYGIENE 
Fig. i 8. A certificate like this is given to Little Mothers in many states. 
they choke on a fishbone that they did not notice in 
the food they were eating. 
If a bone or a penny gets caught in the throat, 
it often can be loosened by coughing or by vomiting. 
The patient may be made to vomit by tickling the 
throat back of the tongue with a feather or a bit of 
cotton on the end of a stick or pencil. A doctor can 
usually take out the troublesome object with a pair of 
pincers, but sometimes he may find it necessary to 22 
HEALTH FOR EVERY DAY 
have the patient swallow 
some soft food like mashed 
potatoes or wet bread, 
that will stick around the 
button or penny in a big 
ball or lump and help 
work it down. If sharp 
things like pins get down 
into the throat, never try 
to swallow them, but call 
a doctor at once. 
Sometimes a little child 
falls on a pencil, fork, or 
spoon that is carelessly 
kept in the mouth when 
climbing from a chair or 
while walking or running. 
In case of a deep cut in 
the mouth, tongue, or lips, 
a doctor should be called 
at once. 
Cuts or bruises. If you 
cut or scratch your skin, 
put on a little medicated 
alcohol or iodine to make 
sure you do not leave any live germs in the cut place. 
Wrap the cut in clean gauze so that no other germs 
can get in. Try not to let the bandage get wet or dirty, 
for germs may get into the cut. Change the bandage 
every day, so that you can see whether the wound is 
Fig. 19. Many little children have 
been seriously injured by falling 
when they had pencils in their 
mouths. {Photograph by Edith 
Ricker} ACCIDENTS AND DANGERS TO HEALTH 
23 
healing as it should. If it becomes inflamed, or begins 
to "fester" or "gather," use a little more iodine before 
putting on a fresh bandage, and let a nurse or doctor 
look at it. 
Treat bruises and scraped places in the same way as 
Fig. 20. Thin gauze, like the kind shown here, is steamed to make sure 
it is free from germs before it is sealed in packages like the one on the 
right. A little iodine on a cut or bruise will also help keep bacteria from 
growing in a wound. {Photograph by Edith Ricker} 
you would a cut. It is very important that wounds 
should be kept clean - especially big ones. 
Be careful not to hit the scab and break the wound 
open. It is a good plan to use vaseline or a salve after 
a scab forms over the wound, as that helps keep the 
scab soft, and makes the wound less likely to split 
open if you happen to strike it. 
If bruises are bathed in very hot and then in very 
cold water, over and over again, it takes out some of 24 
HEALTH FOR EVERY DAY 
the soreness and may keep the skin from turning black- 
and-blue. 
Bums. A bad burn should be treated by a doctor 
as soon as possible, but even bad burns can often be 
made more comfortable while waiting for a doctor. Put 
on something like salad oil, if you haven't any special 
medicine for burns. Covering the burned part with oil 
or vaseline keeps the air out, and makes it hurt less. 
A few years ago a man was burned very badly. 
The only other person in the building was a young 
girl working in the office. She rushed into the grocery 
store next door and snatched three cans of olive oil 
from the shelves, picked up a can opener that was 
lying there, and rushed back to the burned man before 
the grocer knew what had happened. The doctor said 
her quickness saved the man's life; at any rate, it 
saved him a great deal of pain. 
Sprains. Sprains or breaks need the care of a good 
doctor, but until a doctor can come, wrap the injured 
part in wet gauze. You may use water, but boric acid 
solution is better, especially if the skin is scratched or 
injured. Sometimes sprains are treated like bruises, 
with hot and cold water. 
Harmful plants. There are a good many plants, such 
as nettles, that may poison the skin, but the one that 
harms the most people is the poison ivy. This is a 
vine, though sometimes it grows around a stump or 
a dead tree in such a way that it looks almost like a 
bush or tree. The poison ivy has yellowish-white 
berries, and its leaves are made up of three parts or ACCIDENTS AND DANGERS TO HEALTH 
25 
leaflets. In the fall the leaves turn to beautiful reds 
and yellows, and people often pick them, not knowing 
Fig. 2i. This poison ivy shows two leaves, each with three leaflets and 
two clusters of berries. Its brilliant red or yellow leaves are often picked 
by mistake in the autumn. 
how dangerous the plant is. You can tell which is the 
poisonous one if you remember the old rhyme: 
Berries red, 
Have no dread; 
Berries white, 
Poisonous sight; 
Leaflets three, 
Quickly flee; 
Leaflets five, 
Live and thrive. 26 
HEALTH FOR EVERY DAY 
Some people are poisoned without even touching 
poison ivy - just by having air that has passed over 
it blow on them. Would noticing how the wind is 
blowing help them to keep from being poisoned? 
If you are easily poisoned by this plant, and think 
you have touched it, wash your hands before you 
touch your face or any other part of your body. Wash 
them in hot running water; use plenty of soap - cheap 
laundry soap is best; and let the water run away each 
time as you make more lather and wash over and 
over again. 
If you haven't running water, use several different 
waters, basin after basin, until you feel sure you have 
rinsed off the last bit of poison. After you have washed 
your hands thoroughly, wash your face or any other 
part of your body which may have touched the ivy. 
The poison of this plant often clings to shoes and other 
clothing for some time. If you think you have any on 
your clothes, it would be safest to wash them with 
soap before wearing them again. 
If the skin itches or becomes red or pimply, it often 
helps if we cover the spots with "new skin" or liquid 
collodion, or with a soapy paste made by rubbing a 
soft cloth over wet soap. If the poison spreads over 
much of the body, or forms large blisters, a doctor 
should be called. 
Alcohol. There are two common kinds of alcohol. 
When we speak of alcohol as medicine, or of an al- 
coholic drink, we mean alcohol that we get from fer- 
menting fruit juices, sugars, or grains like rye or wheat. ACCIDENTS AND DANGERS TO HEALTH 
27 
There is another kind of alcohol that looks much 
the same, but is much more poisonous to the body. It 
is called wood alcohol, because it is usually made from 
wood. This wood alcohol may be used in alcohol lamps 
and stoves, and for making varnishes, but it must not 
be used as a drink or a medicine, because it is very 
poisonous and may cause blindness and even death. 
MEDICATED 
ALCOHOL 
WOOD 
ALCOHOL 
FOR 
EXTERNAL USE 
ONLY 
for LAMPS 
Fig. 22. These two kinds of alcohol are poisonous when taken into the 
stomach. Always follow the directions on the labels. 
Even its vapors are very harmful, and therefore its use 
is forbidden in many factories. 
The drug stores no longer sell the first kind of alcohol 
in its pure form, unless it is ordered by a doctor. A 
special prescription is required by the prohibition law. 
It may be sold if something is put into it to make it 
unfit to drink but which will not spoil it for treating 
wounds or rubbing the skin. It is then called denatured 
alcohol or medicated alcohol. 28 
HEALTH FOR EVERY DAY 
Medicines. All medicines should be kept in a closet 
or chest which should always be kept locked to prevent 
very little children from taking pills or other medicines 
that are harmful or even poisonous. 
In case this happens, the first thing to do is to make 
the child vomit - to get rid of as much of the poison 
as possible. Warm water - not hot water, but just 
lukewarm - makes many people vomit. It is better 
to add a little ground mustard; if you do not happen 
to have any in the house, a little salt will do. Medi- 
cines should never be kept where young children can 
get them. 
Things to do. While most of us know how to avoid 
accidents and other injuries, we are often very careless 
about things that are dangerous or risky. Here are 
several "things to do" which will make it easier to 
remember to be careful. 
1. Make a "safety first" picture book, with a do 
or don't rule under each picture. 
2. Write out a list of the traffic rules used in your 
town. 
3. Make a list of things you will not let your little 
sisters or brothers do. 
* 4. Make a Silly Goose or a Foolish Fish book. 
Here are some rhymes to help you to start your book: 
A Silly Goose is Jennie Rand, 
She runs with scissors in her hand 
A Foolish Fish is Charlie Morse, 
He walks too close to a strange horse. ACCIDENTS AND DANGERS TO HEALTH 
29 
A- FOOLISH BLACK 
HE. WALKS RIGHTONTHEJRAILROADTRACK 
A Silly Goose is Fanny Cox, 
Who matches keeps in a paper box. 
5. Find spools or corks to cover the points of the 
school scissors or knives. 
6. What is the most dangerous corner or crossing in 
your town? How could it be made safer? 
7. Make a list of all the things we must know, to 
keep from being hurt when we are walking on the 
street or road. 
8. What are the things a careful driver keeps in 
mind? 
9. What are the things to look out for when we 
are playing? 
10. What rules should we follow when we are boating 
or swimming? 30 
HEALTH FOR EVERY DAY 
Fig. 23. This boy tried to "beat the automobile" at a street crossing 
in New York City. (Courtesy of Henry Street Settlement) 
ii. Make a "first aid" chart. In this column 
there are six things that often help people who have 
met with accidents or are in dangerous places or 
conditions: 
Wet compress 
Alcohol or iodine 
Covering with oil and keeping air out 
Hot or cold compresses 
Cold water on head 
Lying down flat. Fig. 24. The next picture shows what happened because this little girl 
made two mistakes as she started down the stairs. (Photograph by 
Edith Ricker) 
Fig. 25. Now she wishes she had "watched her step" and used the hand 
rail. (Photograph by Edith Ricker) 
31 32 
HEALTH FOR EVERY DAY 
Fig. 26. Why is it dangerous to leave such things as hammers and pails 
of water on stepladders? 
Which of the remedies just mentioned would help a 
person who is feeling faint? Which would help in 
the case of a burn? a bruise? nosebleed? sprain? a 
cut? 
Copy the list on a sheet of paper, and show when 
you would use each "aid." Your paper will begin 
like this: 
Wet compressSprain 
Alcohol or iodine 
12. Make a list of the dangers or dangerous places 
between your home and your school. With the help of 
your parents and your teacher think of ways to avoid 
them. 
13. Write an answer to each of the questions on 
the next page and see whether your classmates agree. WHAT MAY HAPPEN 
IF YOU 
(1) Throw banana skin on sidewalk 
(2) Climb electric poles 
(3) Pull a chair from under another person 
(4) Go too near a strange horse 
(5) Ride a bicycle between two street-car tracks 
(6) Play ball on a busy street 
(7) Roller coast off the sidewalk 
(8) Cross a street in the middle of the block 
(9) Skate on thin ice 
(10) Rock a boat 
(11) Step off a moving elevator 
(12) Put head or arms out of a car window 
(13) Use oil to start a fire 
(14) Play with fire 
(15) Roll stones over a high cliff or hillside 
(16) Aim a bean-shooter at other children's eyes 
(17) Use a sling shot 
(18) Ring a false fire alarm 
(19) Climb in buildings under construction 
(20) Throw sand or pebbles at passing automobiles 
(21) Do not look before crossing car tracks 
(22) Climb on rotten branches of trees 
(23) Walk on top of fences 
(24) Play with guns and pistols 
33 34 
HEALTH FOR EVERY DAY 
THINGS TO ASK, ANSWER, TELL, OR DO 
1. List five things done in your home every day to help 
keep you in good health. 
2. Have you ever been sick because of your own careless- 
ness? If so, tell about it. 
3. Tell about some accident which you know of that need 
not have happened. 
4. Make a list of all the warning signs in your neighbor- 
hood. 
5. What do you understand "Safety First" to mean? 
6. Make a list of dangerous places in which children often 
play. 
7. Are there any dangerous places in your neighborhood 
where some children like to play? 
8. What do you do in order to be safe when you cross a 
street on which automobiles pass? 
9. Make a list of things which children do in innocent play 
that might cause accidents to other people. 
10. What can you do to help prevent accidents to other 
people? 
11. Make a story of a trip to a city store, telling just how 
you would act in order to be safe when getting on and off cars, 
elevators, etc. 
12. Tell the story of the four boys who killed a workingman. 
13. Tell one of the stories in this chapter about an accident 
caused by dangerous fun. 
14. Tell of some accident caused by playing jokes. 
15. Make a list of "don'ts" to remember about the use of 
matches. 
16. In case of fire in your home, what could you do to help? 
17. Why should you know how to swim? 
18. Give reasons why those who know how to swim should 
be careful in boats. How can you learn the stroke before 
going into the water? ACCIDENTS AND DANGERS TO HEALTH 
35 
iq. Make a rule to follow in handling sharp or dangerous 
tools. 
20. Make a list of five things which older children can do 
to protect little children on the city streets or in the country. 
21. Why should we never frighten young children? 
22. How can a person be helped to get rid of a bone or penny 
stuck in the throat? 
23. Should a doctor be called in case of choking? When? 
24. What is the danger from a cut or scratch on the skin? 
25. How should any injury to the skin be treated? 
26. What can be done to take out some of the soreness from 
a bruise? 
27. How should bad burns be cared for before a doctor treats 
them? 
28. What should be done for sprains or breaks? 
29. How can you know poison ivy? 
30. What should you do as soon as you find that you have 
touched poison ivy? 
31. What kinds of alcohol are poisonous? 
32. What should be done in case a child gets into the medi- 
cine chest and takes harmful or poisonous medicine? 
33. Choose one of the twelve things listed under "Things 
to Do," and do it as well as you can. 
34. Turn to Chapter IX and find why we should be very 
careful how we handle fireworks. Fig. 27. This cat is pretending that her playmate, the dog, is a real 
enemy. {Wide World Photos') 
CHAPTER II 
PLAY AND WORK 
The play of animals. All children like to see young 
animals, such as kittens and puppies, play. Have you 
ever watched a kitten or a puppy at play? What did 
it do? Did you ever see an old cat or an old dog play? 
Did it play just as the young one did? Have you seen 
calves, colts, and lambs playing? What other animals 
have you seen playing? What do they do? Do they 
"run races," or chase each other? Do they pretend to 
36 PLAY AND WORK 
37 
fight each other? Do they jump or make any other 
interesting movements? Do they play with toys, such 
as balls or spools? 
Wild animals also play, but very few people ever see 
them playing. Dallas Lore Sharp, in his book of 
animal stories called A Watcher in the Woods * tells us 
how to catch them at it: 
Take a moonlight night in autumn and hide in the edge 
of these woods. There is to be a rabbit party in the clover 
Fig. 28. Wild animals play as much as the tame ones. {After 
W. J. Long) 
field. The grass has long been cut and the field is clean 
and shining; but still there is plenty to eat. The rabbits 
from both sides of the woods are coming. The full moon 
rises above the trees, and the cottontails start over. Now, 
of course, they use the paths which they cut so carefully 
* Published by the Century Co. 38 
HEALTH FOR EVERY DAY 
the longest possible way round. They hop leisurely along, 
stopping now and then to nibble the sassafras bark or to 
get a bite of wintergreen, even quitting the path, here and 
there, for a berry or a bunch of sweet wood grass. 
The feast is finished, and the games are on. Four or 
five of the rabbits have come together for a turn at hop- 
skip-and-jump. And such hop-skip-and-jump! They are 
professionals at this sport, every one of them. There is not 
a rabbit in the game that cannot leap five times higher 
than he can reach on his tiptoes, and hop a clean ten feet. 
Over and over they go, bounding and bouncing, snapping 
from their marvelous hind legs as if shot from a spring- 
trap. It is the greatest jumping exhibition that you will 
ever see. To have such legs as these is the next best thing 
to having wings. 
Why animals play. Some wise men who have 
watched animals at play have come to believe that 
they play because they feel well and strong, and enjoy 
playing. Sick and tired animals do not play; perhaps 
they have a headache or toothache or a "tummyache," 
or they simply feel too tired to play. 
People used to think that most of the play of young 
animals was quite useless, because they did not seem 
to be making any of the motions that are necessary for 
getting food, for escaping from enemies, for fighting 
their enemies, or for caring for their young ones. These 
are things that wild animals must learn to do in order 
to live. 
Scientific men who have studied young animals have 
found out that play is not useless. It helps the muscles 
to grow in size and strength. It teaches the young ani- PLAY AND WORK 
39 
mals how to get food, and how to run away from their 
enemies, and how to defend themselves. These things 
are all useful when the parent animals no longer take 
care of the young ones. For example, a mother wolf 
or wildcat feeds her young ones nothing but milk for 
the first few weeks, until they learn to eat meat from the 
animals which the mother and father kill for them. 
Fig. 30. Two bears at 
play, wrestling as boys 
often do. How will this 
play help them in their 
later life? (Courtesy of 
Colgate Company) 
Fig. 29. How does wrestling help boys 
prepare for life? (Courtesy of Colgate 
Company) 
When they are several months old, the mother ceases 
to give them milk or meat, and leaves the young ones 
to find their own food and protect themselves against 
their enemies. 
The other day the wind blew a big leaf across the 
yard, and our Maltese kitten chased that leaf down the 
path and all around the flower bed. Just as the kitten 40 
HEALTH FOR EVERY DAY 
pounced upon the leaf, the wind blew a shutter off the 
house and it fell with a bang. The kitten jumped 
into the middle of the flower bed and stayed hidden 
for a long time. Why did she chase the leaf? What 
was she learning to do? Why did she hide in the flower 
bed? 
Why children play. Children, and even older people, 
are like animals in that they usually play when they 
Fig. 31. This kitten is working just as hard to get a leaf from under this 
doorsill as if it were a mouse. What do young animals learn from such 
play? (Photograph by Edith Ricker) 
feel well. Do you like to play when you feel ill or 
tired? Did you ever forget that you were not feeling 
well when a playmate came to play with you? Some- 
times when we are not very well, it makes us feel better 
to go out of doors and play some quiet game. 
Often when children play they imitate the work of 
older people. They play school, they keep house, they 
build boats, and they run trains. Did you ever play 
this way? Most children learn a great deal by such PLAY AND WORK 
41 
play, because it leads them to see how older people do 
their work. 
One of the most important things about play is that 
it gives us a feeling of pleasure and happiness. We 
usually think of play, such as the play of children, and 
many games like golf and tennis played by older people, 
Fig. 32. These children are having fun and active exercise in the open 
air, with a rope made from their belts. (Wide World Photos) 
as something that is not useful, but we shall see later 
that this is not true. 
The scientists say that the real reason why all 
healthy children and most older people like to play is 
simply because we are born with a play instinct, which 
means that playing is just as natural as breathing and 
eating. Watch a baby one to three years old to see if 
this is true. What do babies do when they play? 
Play and work. Of course you have heard the old 
saying that " All work and no play makes Jack a dull 42 
HEALTH FOR EVERY DAY 
boy." Why would work without play make any boy 
dull? 
Some work can be done in such an interesting way 
that it seems like play, and not a disagreeable task, as 
it was to Jack. Can you think of several kinds of work 
which you like to do? Do you ever try to make work 
more interesting? Some boys and girls run races while 
doing errands. Can you think of any way of making a 
game out of dishwashing, or dusting, or weeding the 
garden, or carrying wood? Most work does not make 
dull boys and girls, unless it is too hard or is carried on 
so long that the worker gets really tired. Some boys 
and girls get a lot of fun out of trying to see if they can 
do a task in less time, or better, than they did it the 
first time. 
Many kinds of useful work can be made as interesting 
and as delightful as play for a time, but if continued 
too long they may become as tiresome as Jack's work 
did. For example, it is fun to hold the garden hose and 
sprinkle the road or lawn for a half hour, but you 
would find it hard work to hold the hose eight hours a 
day. 
Exercise develops the body. Play and work both 
help to develop the body, especially the muscles. In 
what part of the body are muscles developed most in 
walking? in running? in turning a grindstone? in 
sweeping with a broom? 
In Lew Wallace's story, Ben Hur, the hero, a young 
prince only seventeen years old, was unjustly sentenced 
to work for life as a slave on one of the galleys or war PLAY AND WORK 
43 
vessels used in ancient times. He was one of over two 
hundred prisoners who were chained to the oars of the 
galley. 
Ben Hur soon noticed that those who had been 
prisoners a long time were very bent, because each man 
rowed but one of the long heavy oars, and always from 
the same seat - on the same side of the boat. Finally, 
he gathered enough courage to ask the master of the 
galley to allow him to change his position from one 
side of the boat to the other. Why did he ask to 
change? 
After Ben Hur had escaped from the galley, he was 
driving in a four-horse chariot race when an enemy 
struck his spirited horses. The horses were crazed 
with fear, because they had never felt a whip before; 
but Ben Hur's three years of steady hard work at the 
oars had given him such strength in his arms that he 
held the frightened horses to their course and won the 
race. 
Exercise for the whole body. But exercise should 
develop all our muscles, not only our arm and leg 
muscles. It is fine to have the strongest grip and the 
largest arm muscle; but to have a strong, healthy body, 
all our muscles must be in good condition. 
We have in our body over five hundred different 
muscles, and many of the small ones, such as those in 
the walls of the chest, are very important indeed, 
even though we do not feel or see them move, or think 
about them. 
What exercise do you get that uses muscles in several 44 
HEALTH FOR EVERY DAY 
different parts of your body? Which of the following 
are good all-over exercises: running, swimming, garden- 
ing, tennis, writing, baseball, wrestling? Can you think 
of two more? 
If your usual work or play develops only a few muscles, 
Fig. 34. This position is not quite 
natural; it is not so good as that in 
Fig. 33 because shoulders are too 
high and chest too far forward. 
{Photograph by Edith Ricker) 
Fig. 33. This is a good standing position. Compare this picture with 
Fig. 34. This is the position for beginning the exercises in Figs. 52 to 57. 
{Photograph by Edith Ricker) 
try to exercise the other parts of your body in some 
other way. Why is walking a good kind of exercise for 
a bookkeeper or a shoemaker? What would be good 
for mail carriers or policemen, who walk a great deal? PLAY AND WORK 
45 
What kind of exercise would you take if you had 
to sit long hours at such work as sewing, typewriting, 
or reading? What do you find restful after having been 
in school all day? 
Watch a baby who is learning to walk. Is there any 
Fig. 35. When you pull a door toward you does it touch your body at 
these three places: forehead, chest, and toes? 
part of his body which does not get exercise as he walks 
and tumbles around the room? 
Standing and sitting as muscle exercise. Keeping 
good .standing and sitting positions is really exercise, 
especially for the chest and back muscles. Some people 
find keeping a good position the hardest kind of exer- 
cise. 
A poor sitting or standing position is due to the 
forming of a bad habit, to carelessness, ignorance, or 46 
HEALTH FOR EVERY DAY 
just laziness. Have you ever heard the expression, 
"Too lazy to even sit up"? 
If you are really too tired to sit or stand correctly, 
lie down or rest in any comfortable way for a few 
minutes, but do not allow yourself to sit or stand much 
of the time in a lazy, slouching way. That leads to 
Fig. 36. What will happen if you carry your books in either of these 
ways every time? {Photograph by Edith Ricker) 
bad position habits, which, like all bad habits, are 
very hard to break. 
Do you stand properly? Here is a way of finding 
out. Walk toward a door, and stop near it in your 
natural standing position. Then pull the door toward 
you, as in the picture, until it hits your toes. If your 
standing position is good, the door will touch you in PLAY AND WORK 
47 
three places: your toes, your chest, and your forehead. 
If it does that, you are standing as you should, with 
your chest out, your head up, and your chin in. 
Test yourself in this way several times today; do it 
until you begin to have a feeling that tells you when 
you are standing well. Try the door test every morn- 
ing for a week, to see if you 
are improving in your stand- 
ing position. Hang a plumb 
line on the porch, or from 
the limb of a tree, so that 
you can test yourself occa- 
sionally when playing out of 
doors. 
Changing positions during 
exercise. You are not galley 
slaves like Ben Hur; you are 
free to arrange your own 
positions. Do you sit with 
one shoulder higher than the 
other when you write? Why 
is it a good plan, when 
carrying school books or 
packages, to change the 
weight from one side to the 
other every few minutes? 
Do you always use the same hand for holding fast to 
the car handles or straps? Is the same hand always 
uppermost as you sweep or chop or shovel? 
Changing the position of our feet and legs is also 
Fig. 37. Why is this a better 
way of carrying a load than 
either one in Fig. 36? {Photo- 
graph by Edith Ricker) 48 
HEALTH FOR EVERY DAY 
important. Many people always stand with the 
weight on the same foot, or with the same knee bent 
outward like one of the boys in Figure 63. Soldiers 
are drilled until they have formed good position habits, 
but during the short rest periods their officers allow 
Fig. 38. Swimming on the back is one of the easiest ways for beginners 
Lie on the floor and practice the arm and leg movements pictured here. 
them to take any position they find comfortable, no 
matter how lazy or slouching they may look. 
Swimming as exercise. Everybody should know 
how to swim, not only because it is good exercise and 
good fun, but for safety. Many people have been 
saved from being drowned because they were able to 
swim well enough to keep afloat for a few minutes until 
help came. Boys and girls should learn to swim before PLAY AND WORK 
49 
they are twelve or thirteen years old. Many girls and 
boys between six and ten years of age are good 
swimmers. 
When you begin your swimming lessons do not go 
into water deeper than up to your shoulders. Even 
when you have become an expert in swimming it is 
best not to take any unnecessary risks in deep water, 
Fig. 39. Many children find it easy to learn the "crawl" in which first 
one and then the other arm reaches forward above the water and then 
dips and draws back to the side. At the same time the body is turned 
and the legs "paddle" or move as in positions 2 and 3 in Fig. 38. 
for sometimes even expert swimmers have sudden 
attacks of painful contractions or "cramps" of the 
muscles, which make them helpless. 
Exercise should be regular. Baseball is a summer 
game, but the players of the big ball teams start prac- 
ticing months before summer begins, and practice 
every day. If you want to win in a running race or a 
relay race next June, when should you begin to practice? 
How often each week should you practice? Would 50 
HEALTH FOR EVERY DAY 
once a week be often enough? Or would it be better to 
practice every day? 
Is there any special exercise you should take every 
day? Or do your play and work give you enough of 
the right kind of exercise? 
Other reasons for exercise. Perhaps you do not 
need any more exercise to develop your muscles, but 
other kinds of exercise, instead. There are two other 
Fig. 40. These forks and the 
apple do not fall because the 
weight is equally balanced on 
each side of the cork. Why 
is it easier to walk a tight-rope 
if we carry a long pole? 
Fig. 41. The ball of lead in this toy 
balances the horse and rider because 
the weight is the same. 
things exercise does for us. It makes us alert and able 
to act quickly. It also gives us a better control of our 
bodies in another way - what we call "balance." 
Exercise for balance. Did you ever try to walk a 
tight-rope? Some people learn to do it very easily, 
because they have a very good sense of balance. Try 
walking on the curbstone or the edge of the pavement, PLAY AND WORK 
51 
Fig. 42. You can bend forward or backward without losing your balance 
as long as not more than one-half your weight is in front of or behind you, 
but you will see that your body is balanced like Fig. 40 if you try bending 
while standing on the narrow side of a brick. 
Fig. 43. After you have learned to walk on a balance beam, make up 
some "fancy steps" to test your balance. Here is one. Stand with 
your weight on your left foot, tap with the right foot and then step 
forward with the right foot. Then tap and step with the left foot, and 
so on, the full length of the beam. 52 
HEALTH FOR EVERY DAY 
if the street is not crowded or dangerous. How many 
steps can you take without slipping off? 
Have you a balance beam in your school? If not, 
perhaps the railroad or the street car company will 
give you some old car rails for your school yard. Try 
walking on these rails, and see how many times you 
Fig. 44. This five-year-old boy can keep his balance, even though his 
aquaplane is being pulled very rapidly across the water. (Wide World 
Photos') 
can walk up and down a rail without slipping off. Who 
is the champion beam or rail walker of your class? 
Which of these balancing games or "stunts" can you 
do well: walking a rail, carrying a cupful of water on 
your head, walking on stilts, riding a bicycle, playing PLAY AND WORK 
53 
hop-scotch, and "bounce stick"? What is the most 
difficult balancing game you know? 
Exercise for alertness. What is the quickest animal 
you know? Did you ever see any animal move more 
quickly than the squirrel in Figure 45? What other 
animals need to be quick and alert? 
Do people need to think and to act quickly? Will 
thinking quickly help you in crossing the street? in 
Fig. 45. Do you know any animal quicker or more alert than a squirrel? 
How long does it take a squirrel to run up a tree? (Courtesy New York 
Zoological Society. Photograph by Sanborn) 
driving a motor car? Have you ever heard of people 
who "take all day" to do things? Or of people who 
are "as slow as molasses in winter time"? 
If you were hiring people to work for you, would 
you hire the slow kind? Would they get much work 54 
HEALTH FOR EVERY DAY 
done? Would slow policemen or firemen be good 
public servants? Would they be likely to get out of 
danger quickly? Would they think and act quickly 
enough to help others out of danger? 
Make a list of the ways we describe quick, alert 
people. Can you find any besides these three: 
1. As smart as a whip. 
2. As bright as a button. 
3. As quick as a flash. 
Which of these games demand quick thinking or 
quick action: tennis, dodge ball, football, baseball, 
relay races, hurdle races, hop-scotch, puss-wants-a- 
corner, slap-jack, Simon says "thumbs up," jacks, 
marbles, skating, tag, and jumping rope? 
What kind of training can you give yourself to help 
you become quicker and more alert? 
Do you hear every time people speak to you? Does 
it take you a long time to begin to do what you are 
told? Are you the first or the last to follow the direc- 
tions in. your physical training exercises? Does the 
physical training teacher "catch you napping" when 
the marching directions are changed quickly? 
Once two men who were painting a picture on the 
ceiling of a church were working on a high scaffold. 
One stepped back to get a better view of his work, 
and, without realizing it, stepped farther back than 
was safe. Just as he reached the edge of the scaffold, 
his companion saw the danger. Instantly he smeared 
his own paintbrush over the painting, and that made 
the man step forward, to save the picture. If the PLAY AND WORK 
55 
friend had taken one more second to think of and carry 
out his plan, it would have been too late. What might 
have happened if the friend had shouted, instead of 
acting as he did? 
Some papers and magazines for boys and girls have 
a story in every number describing a boy or a girl who 
thought or acted very quickly. Find a story of that 
kind and bring it to school for your next reading lesson. 
Learn to think and act quickly. Don't be like the slow 
people who have to say, "I would have done it, too, 
if I had thought of it." 
Play and work should not be too hard. An ant can 
carry more than a hundred times its own weight. How 
much would a boy weighing 75 pounds have to carry if he 
carried one hundred times his own weight? Most people 
cannot carry very heavy weights, and many strong men 
cannot carry even as much as their own weight. 
Trying to lift very heavy weights is not good for 
growing children, because they may strain or injure 
themselves, even though they do not feel it at the time. 
Never try to lift very heavy things, just to see how much 
you can lift. Should little children try to lift one 
another, or to carry one another around? 
Many of our states have laws to protect children 
from working too long and from doing work that is too 
heavy or too hard. But there aren't any laws that tell 
you how hard you may work at your play. Your own 
common sense has to tell you what you should not 
do, and when to stop running, jumping rope, or other 
exercises that tire you. 56 
HEALTH FOR EVERY DAY 
Children have to be more careful than grown people. 
Do you remember the story about George Washington 
and the young colt? Ask your teacher to tell it to you, 
if you do not know it. Perhaps fright had something 
to do with the colt's death, but it is quite certain that 
the colt was made to run too fast and too long. 
Exercise and the heart. We can tell something 
about how hard our work or exercise is for us by finding 
out how much faster it makes our hearts beat. This can 
be done by counting the pulse, which gives a throb 
every time the heart pumps or pushes a new lot of 
blood along. 
The following table gives the average rate for the 
heart or pulse for children of your age: 
Age 
Heart or Pulse Rate 
5- 9 years 
104-90 times a minute 
9-10 years 
92-84 " " " 
10-13 years 
88-82 " " " 
Take a watch which has a second hand, and time 
your pulse as you sit quietly in a chair. Figure 58 
shows you the common way of counting the pulse 
or heartbeats. How many times does your heart beat 
in a minute? 
Stand up for about ten minutes and then take your 
pulse. Is it faster or slower? How much? Is stand- 
ing harder work or less work for the body than sitting 
down? 
Next take some vigorous exercise - running, jump- 
ing rope, or hopping on one foot - for about five min- Fig. 46. This prize-winning team from the Panama Canal Zone visited the United States recently. These children 
know that swimming is one of the best kinds of play. {Wide World Photos} 
57 58 
HEALTH FOR EVERY DAY 
Fig. 47. Walking so the feet make tracks like this is the best way. 
Fig. 48. "Toeing out" is not a good way to walk. Try walking in sand or 
along a crack in the floor to see whether you walk like Fig. 47 or Fig. 48. PLAY AND WORK 
59 
utes, and then time your pulse. How does hard work 
affect the heartbeat? Why does overwork sometimes 
injure the heart? 
Is studying or reading or playing the piano or play- 
ing jackstraws or playing marbles as hard as running 
or jumping? How can you prove it? 
The wrist is one of the easiest places to count the 
pulse. Can you feel the pulse on your temples? 
Find a place on the side of your neck, just under 
your chin, where you can feel the pulse. Would this 
be a good or a poor place to count a fat person's pulse? 
Can you find another place where you can feel the 
pulse distinctly enough to count it? 
People who train for running races do not start off 
each time at top speed. They begin slowly, and by 
degrees work up to their fastest speed. They save 
some strength for a spurt at the end. 
Baseball players know it is better to begin gradually. 
Watch the players in the next ball game you see, and 
notice how they put in a little gentle practice before 
the game really begins. They call it "warming up." 
Why do trainers exercise their horses a little just before 
the race begins? 
What games do for us. Here is a long list of games 
and other recreations for boys and girls. Copy this 
table on a sheet of paper, if you do not own this book, 
and put a mark in each space if the description at the 
top of the column fits that game. Two games, tennis 
and jackstraws, have already been marked to show 
you how to do it. 60 
HEALTH FOR EVERY DAY 
Games and Recreations 
Makes us 
More 
Alert 
Gives us 
Better 
Balance 
Develops 
OUR 
Muscles 
Tennis 
Baseball 
Moving-picture shows. 
Tag 
Blindman's buff 
X 
X 
X 
Snap-the-whip........ 
Skating 
Gardening 
Jackstraws 
Swimming 
Motoring 
Duck-on-the-rock 
Red-rover 
X 
Drop the handkerchief. 
Scout hikes 
Fishing 
Hockey 
Jacks 
Coasting 
Dodge ball 
Potato races 
Bird walks 
Clothing and exercise. Sometimes our clothes are 
too warm or too heavy for our games or exercises. 
Sometimes they are not loose enough to allow the blood 
to circulate rapidly in the muscles that are working. 
We usually know when our shoes are too tight; but 
sometimes our other clothes keep us from doing our 
best, because they are too tight or because they "pull" 
or get in our way. PLAY AND WORK 
61 
If our work or exercise 
makes us very warm, we 
should remove heavy or warm 
outer clothing before the body 
becomes overheated. When 
we stop working or exercising 
we cool off, and at such times 
we should keep out of a draft, 
or put on an extra covering, t) 
avoid being chilled. 
After you read the chapter 
on clothing and the skin, turn 
back to this page to see if you 
can add anything to this lesson 
on clothing and exercise. 
Food and exercise. Some 
of our food is used for fuel 
and gives us the energy for 
hard work and pky, just as 
coal or oil gives the engine its 
power or energy. 
Does it take more or less 
gasoline for an automobile 
to go the same distance uphill as on level ground? 
Do you need more or less food when you work or play 
hard than when you just sit and read? Why? 
Make a list of all the things you did yesterday during 
every hour, from the time you got up until you went 
to bed. During which hour did you use the most food 
material? When did you use the least? 
Fig. 49. Find another pic- 
ture in this book which shows 
clothing which might inter- 
fere with movement. 
(Courtesy of Henry Street 
Settlement) 62 
HEALTH FOR EVERY DAY 
Ask your teacher to keep the sheet of paper with 
your answers until you finish the chapter on food, and 
then to allow you to make any necessary corrections 
in your own paper. 
Making work easier. Work is good for us, but we 
all like to find ways of making our work easier. Then 
we can do our work more quickly or do more work in 
a day. It pays, therefore, to make our minds help our 
bodies work. Think, for example, how hard it must 
Fig. 50. Once a whole hill in Africa was leveled down by workmen who 
took the earth away in baskets they carried on their heads. Even a 
simple machine like the wheelbarrow would have been a great help to them. 
have been to move or pull things from place to place 
before somebody thought of making wheels. 
Get some spring scales and pull a heavy weight, like 
a box of books, across the floor, and see how many 
pounds the scale registers. Then place the same box 
of books on a wagon or anything that will roll - four 
tin cans or two pieces of broomsticks will do - and 
see how much less pulling you have to do. 
Thousands of tools and machines have been invented 
to do the work that is necessary in the world. Some of 
these are quite simple, like crowbars, jackscrews, and 
pulleys. A carpenter or a blacksmith could show you 
many tools that make his work easier. 
Many farm machines which have come into use since PLAY AND WORK 
63 
1850 make it possible for one man to 
do as much work in a day as several 
men did in our grandfathers' time. 
Some examples of these machines are: 
mowers for cutting grass, reapers for 
harvesting wheat and other cereals, 
two-row planters, hay loaders and un- 
loaders, threshers, milking machines, 
cultivators, tractors, and potato dig- 
gers. Ask some farmers to tell you 
how these and other machines make 
farm work easier and quicker. 
Some household machines, such as 
sewing and washing machines, vacuum 
cleaners and electric flatirons, make 
housework easier and pleasanter than 
in the days of our grandmother. 
Besides making it possible for us to 
do more work, all such labor-saving 
devices and machines are important 
for another reason. They give us more time not only 
for rest and recreation, but also for improving our 
minds by reading and study. 
Fig. 51. A pogo 
stick or bounce 
stick is good fun 
as well as good 
exercise. {Wide 
World Photos') 
SCHOOLROOM EXERCISES 
On rainy days when you cannot take the usual outdoor ex- 
ercise try some of the exercises which are shown in the pictures 
on the following pages. These can be taken while standing be- 
side your desk. They are vigorous enough to make the blood 
circulate faster and they exercise most of the large muscles, in 
the trunk as well as the arms and legs. Fig. 52. Change from the correct standing position to the high stretching 
position on the left. Practice ladder climbing as on the right also; and 
pretend you climb up and up until you go out of sight, like Jack in the 
story of Jack-and-the-Beanstalk. (These photographs and the following 
sets were made by Edith Ricker, after the series given by Dr. Jesse F. Williams 
in the Teachers College Record) 
64 Fig. 53. Pretend to pick up something near the floor (right picture) 
and, turning the body, put it down on the opposite side (left picture). 
(Photographs by Edith Ricker} 
Fig. 54. Two positions in pretending to throw a ball. (Photographs by 
Edith Ricker} 
65 Fig. 55. This exercise is more vigorous than that of Fig. 53 because 
what you pretend to pick up on one side, you turn and place on the 
highest shelf you can reach. {Photographs by Edith Ricker) 
66 Fig. 56. Crouch ready for a spring, jump straight up into the air, and 
come down where you stood before. (Photographs by Edith Ricker} 
67 Fig. 57. These pictures show how you can stand in your place and ye 
pretend to walk (right) or run (left), counting "one," "two" as yo 
change feet. {Photographs by Edith Ricker) 
68 PLAY AND WORK 
69 
THINGS TO ASK, ANSWER, TELL, OR DO 
1. Give two good reasons why children should play. 
2. Give three or four ways in which you can turn your work 
or chores into play. 
3. What do you do, either in play or work, that exercises 
several of your muscles at the same time? 
4. Is there any part of your body which does not get enough 
exercise? 
5. Why is it so important to keep good sitting and standing 
positions? 
6. How can you test your standing position to discover 
whether it is good or bad? 
7. Make a list of changes which you should make from 
time to time in order to develop both sides of your body evenly? 
8. Make a list of sports which are good exercise. 
9. Why should exercise be regular, that is, every day, or at 
stated times. 
10. Give three reasons for exercising. 
11. How can you develop what is known as "balance"? 
12. Name four ways in which you can train yourself to act 
more quickly. 
13. If it is possible to overexercise, how are you going to 
tell when to stop? 
Fig. 58. To "count the pulse," press the tips of your fingers on your 
wrist, 70 
HEALTH FOR EVERY DAY 
14- How does exercise affect the heartbeat? 
15. What effect does overexercise have on the heart? 
16. Give two rules which should be followed in regard to 
clothing and exercise. 
17. Make a set of directions, which your class can use in 
school, for the exercises on this page. 
Fig. 59. Practice short quick movements, counting "one," "two," as 
you do these exercises. Exercise both left and right legs and arms. 
{After C. Mosher} 
Fig. 60. These exercises are more difficult than those in Fig. 59. You 
will have to jump when you do number 4, because you move both legs 
at once. 
Fig. 6i. These are both good back or trunk exercises. Pretend to throw 
sand over your head as in number 5; cun you touch your toes as in 
number 6? CHAPTER HI 
REST AND SLEEP 
Have you read the story of Rikki-tikki-tavi, * the 
mongoose who killed a whole family of cobras? It 
was hard work, you remember, and when he had fin- 
ished, he "curled himself up in the grass and slept and 
slept till it was late in the afternoon, for he had done 
a hard day's work." 
The need for rest. Do all animals stop to rest? 
What do dogs do when they have been running hard? 
What does a careful driver do with his horse when it 
has been moving rapidly, or hauling a heavy load until 
tired? Have you ever watched young farm animals 
playing in the pasture? Do they ever stop to lie down 
and rest? Do birds fly during all the daylight hours? 
Do fishes in a brook or aquarium swim all the time? 
Do flies and butterflies stop to rest? 
When you have answered all of these questions cor- 
rectly, you will see that animals are not moving all 
the time, that they stop from time to time for rest. 
Some kinds of machines, such as engines or motors, 
can keep going all day long without stopping for rest. 
Pumping engines in mines have run six months, and 
airplanes and automobiles have crossed the United 
States without stopping their engines even once. 
*In The Jungle Book, by Kipling. 
71 72 
HEALTH FOR EVERY DAY 
No living animal or human being could keep going 
as a machine can, because the muscles would get so 
tired that they would refuse to keep on working. In 
six-day bicycle races the riders must stop for short 
rest periods and to get some food and sleep. Soldiers 
on the march are allowed to stop for rest whenever 
the commanding officers think that the men are getting 
overtired. 
Why children should rest. It is important that chil- 
dren stop to rest many times between breakfast and 
Fig. 62. What animals, besides the cat, always sleep on the side? Try 
lifting your kitten's legs when she is asleep, and notice how "loose" 
her joints seem. Do you relax as much as cats do when you rest or 
sleep? (Courtesy of Cornelia Clark) 
bedtime, because while they are growing rapidly it is 
not good for them to get too tired. Horsemen begin 
to train colts even before they are one year old, but 
great care is taken to keep these growing horses from 
becoming very tired. Colts that are driven too long 
or too fast are not likely to grow up to be strong and 
well-developed horses. What might happen to children 
who play and work too hard and too long? REST AND SLEEP 
73 
Ways of resting. If you feel tired all over, it is best 
to lie down for a short time in any comfortable posi- 
tion, such as on your back, or lying on one side curled 
up like a cat. Good positions for sleeping will be de- 
scribed later in this chapter. 
If only the legs are tired, we can rest by sitting or 
Fig. 63. Find two different resting positions in this Boy Scout group. 
(Courtesy of Underwood and Underwood) 
lying down so as to take the weight off the legs. When 
standing for a long time, we naturally change the 
weight from one leg to the other, so as to rest each 
leg in turn. In the schools to which our grandfathers 
went, boys who played in school and did not study their 
lessons were punished by having to stand up straight 74 
HEALTH FOR EVERY DAY 
Fig. 64. Which of these children need to be told how to sit when at 
work? {Wide World Photos') 
and close to the walls in the corner of the room. If 
you keep close to the corner you cannot get a chance 
to rest your legs by shifting your weight from one leg 
to the other. Try this position yourself and see how 
quickly your leg and back muscles begin to get tired. 
When working with one arm, it is often possible to 
rest it by changing to the other. Many persons who REST AND SLEEP 
75 
are right-handed do 
things quite well with 
the left. Can you 
write your name with 
either hand? throw a 
ball? drive a nail with 
a hammer? turn a 
crank? button your 
coat? whittle with a 
knife? cut your finger 
nails? 
Write a list of 
things that you can 
do best with one hand, 
but can do with the 
other also. You 
should practice doing 
as many things as 
possible with the hand 
you do not generally 
use, because a change 
gives rest to a tired 
arm and hand. Then, 
too, it is often very 
convenient to be able to use either hand. Children 
who are naturally left-handed should practice using the 
right hand as much as possible, because many tools 
are made to fit the right hand. Have you ever seen 
left -handed scissors, rip-saws, grass-hooks, or sickles? 
Sometimes a change rests us almost as much as 
Fig. 65. Is this chair suited to this 
little girl? Can you think of one 
reason why little children are so often 
restless, when older people want them 
to "sit still"? (Photograph by Edith 
Ricker) 76 
HEALTH FOR EVERY DAY 
sitting still or lying down. If we have been working 
hard in the garden or house, we can rest by sitting 
down and reading. If we are tired out playing tennis 
or ball, we can rest by playing a more quiet game. 
Fig. 66. Which girl in this open-air school in London, England, has the 
best sitting position for work? Why? (Courtesy of the director of the 
school, Mr. H. Broughton) 
After studying in school all afternoon, we find that 
outdoor games rest us very much. 
Sleep. We do not rest enough during the hours we 
are awake, and so several hours of sleep are necessary 
every night. All animals sleep, most of them at night. 
Do you know any animals which sleep during the day- 
time and are wide awake at night? REST AND SLEEP 
77 
Have you read about Father Wolf, in Kipling's 
Jungle Book? 
It was seven o'clock of a very warm evening in the See- 
onee hills when Father Wolf woke up from his day's rest, 
scratched himself, yawned, and spread out his paws one 
after the other to get rid of the sleepy feeling in the tips. 
Fig. 67. Making beds properly, as taught to boys in camp, should be 
practical at home. (Courtesy of Henry Street Settlement) 
What was Father Wolf doing, awake at night, when 
most other animals were sleeping? Why should pet cats 
be kept from wandering at night? Have you heard of 
animals that take a very long sleep during the winter? 
What time do you go to bed? What time do you get 78 
HEALTH FOR EVERY DAY 
up in the morning? How many hours do you sleep? 
The right number of hours for children of your age is 
shown in the next table. Do you sleep long enough? 
If not, how can you plan to get more hours for sleep 
each night? 
Table of Hours Children Should Sleep 
5 to 6 years13 hours 
6 to 9 " 12 " 
9 to 12 " 11 " 
12 to 15 " 10 " 
Fig. 68. Sleeping on the side is considered the best as well as the most 
natural way. 
Little children should go to bed soon after the 
evening meal, because by that time they are tired and 
need the complete rest that sleep brings. If they 
stay awake too late, they are likely to get overtired, 
even though they do not show it. 
There is no better rule for sleep than the one written 
by Benjamin Franklin in Poor Richard's Almanac: 
Early to bed and early to rise, 
Makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise. REST AND SLEEP 
79 
Getting up in the morning. It is best to get up as 
soon as you are wide awake in the morning. If you 
go to bed at the same hour each evening, you will 
soon form a habit of waking at the same time in the 
morning. This regular habit is better than an alarm 
clock. As soon as you are wide awake, jump out of 
bed, bathe, or at least wash your hands and face in 
cold water to "take the sleep out of your eyes," and 
Fig. 69. Many persons snore.and keep their mouths open when they sleep 
on the back. 
brush your teeth. Then dress and get ready for break- 
fast. If breakfast is not ready, see if you can help 
with the work by carrying wood or water, getting 
kindling wood, sweeping the porch or sidewalk, feeding 
the chickens, or doing any other little piece of work 
that needs to be done. These exercises will give you 
an appetite for breakfast. If there is no work that 
needs to be done, go out for a short walk, or, in good 
weather, play out of doors until breakfast is ready. 
If you happen to wake before the regular hour for 80 
HEALTH FOR EVERY DAY 
getting up, try to go to sleep again. In this way you 
are less likely to form a habit of waking at the wrong 
time. Do you know how to "count sheep" to put 
yourself to sleep? If this doesn't put you to sleep, 
play quietly with some toy until rising time, unless you 
can get up without disturbing the rest of the family. 
Fig. 70. Doctors agree that children should not sleep on high pillows. 
Fig. 71. Would this boy get plenty of good fresh air even if he slept out 
of doors? When children sleep on the stomach they often bury their 
faces in the pillows. REST AND SLEEP 
81 
How to sleep. At night, as soon as you have bathed, 
get into bed before you feel chilly. You should sleep 
on either your right or your left side, like the boy in 
Figure 68. Many people find it best not to sleep at 
night lying on the back, but that position is restful for 
short periods. How do animals such as dogs, cats, 
horses, and cows sleep? Did you ever see them sleep- 
Fig. 72. A sleeping hood of canvas or any heavy material can be tacked 
to a window screen as you see in the picture. 
ing on their backs? It does not seem natural for any 
backboned animal to sleep on its back. 
It is best for children to sleep alone whenever pos- 
sible. Most people move from time to time when 
sleeping, and so are likely to disturb any one who is 
sleeping with them. Did you ever watch a litter of 
puppies or kittens sleeping? Do they move when they 
are asleep? Do they growl or snarl when they are 
disturbed by the others? 
We should not disturb any one while he is sleeping. 
Mothers and nurses try to keep the house quiet when 
the babies are sleeping. This is not just because the 82 
HEALTH FOR EVERY DAY 
babies will cry if wakened, but because a long, quiet 
sleep is more restful than several short periods of sleep. 
A short period of sleep, often called a "cat nap," is 
very restful if taken when one is very tired at noon- 
time or in the middle of the afternoon. Doctors often 
advise that children should lie down to rest, even if 
Fig. 73. When the ground is dry, "roughing it" in this way will not 
harm >mu, if you have heavy blankets to keep you warm. {Courtesy 
of the Henry Street Settlement) 
they do not sleep, especially if they are "nervous" or 
not very strong. This helps to keep them from be- 
coming overtired. 
Have plenty of fresh air in your sleeping room. This 
does not mean a draft strong enough to blow small 
articles around the room. If the open windows or REST AND SLEEP 
83 
doors cause strong drafts, a screen or sheet should be 
placed so that the incoming air does not strike your 
bed directly. 
Sleeping outdoors. We should sleep out of doors, 
in tents and on porches, whenever possible. A good 
time to begin is while camping during the summer 
vacation, but we should be careful to have a water- 
proof tent or blanket and plenty of other clothing, so 
that the body does not get chilled. If one gets accus- 
tomed to sleeping out of doors during warm weather, 
it is not difficult to keep on in the autumn until the 
weather gets quite cold. In fact, with plenty of blank- 
ets or with sleeping bags, some people prefer to sleep 
outdoors throughout the winter. 
If we cannot arrange to sleep out of doors in tents or 
on porches, it is very easy to arrange a "sleeping hood" 
at a window, as shown in the picture. 
THINGS TO ASK, ANSWER, TELL, OR DO 
1. Can you name any animals which do not need rest? 
2. Why do children and young animals need much rest? 
3. How can you rest even while working? 
4. During which of the 24 hours of the day do you get 
the most rest? 
5. How many hours of sleep should you have? 
6. Make a program which you can follow from the time 
you waken in the morning until you start for school. 
7. Make three rules on "how to sleep." 
8. Why should people sleep out of doors as much as possible? 
9. What is the next best thing to do, if you cannot sleep 
out of doors? Fig. 74. Good food, outdoor exercise, and happy times like this make 
healthy children. {Courtesy of Henry Street Settlement) 
CHAPTER IV 
FOOD AND WATER 
Importance of food. Getting food is the main busi- 
ness of life for most animals. Watch cows or sheep in 
the pasture, if you do not believe this, and see how 
they spend most of their days. Watch butterflies, 
caterpillars and house flies, and see if most of their 
time is spent getting food. How do birds spend most 
of their time? In one cuckoo's stomach were found 
over 250 caterpillars. How long do you think it took 
him to collect so many caterpillars? 
84 FOOD AND WATER 
85 
We don't have to spend so much time eating as cows 
and pigs and sheep do, because we eat different kinds of 
food. Our food is not mainly grass and other leaves; 
we also eat parts of plants that have stored up food - 
grains and fruits and roots. When cows and horses 
are given such foods (corn, oats, etc.) instead of grass 
alone, they get along very well on three meals a day, 
just as we do. 
Dogs are often given but one meal a day. Some 
people, too, prefer to eat but one meal a day, but most 
people feel better if they have two or three meals each 
day. If we eat too much at one time it is likely to 
make us feel heavy and sleepy, and so we find we can 
work better if we have three meals a day instead of one 
large one. 
Young animals (puppies, kittens, birds) often need 
to eat more than three times a day; and very young 
babies may be fed as often as every three hours during 
the day, and once or twice at night as well. 
Food is necessary for growth. Living things need 
food for growth. Prove this for yourself by an experi- 
ment with mold plants. Get some glasses and small 
dishes, as shown in the next picture. 
Get some mold from a jar of preserves or moldy 
bread, and three small dishes. In one dish put a piece 
of dry bread or cracker, and rub some mold on the 
upper side; in the next dish put some wet bread or 
cracker and smear mold on it in the same way; put 
some mold in the third dish without any food or water. 
Set the dishes in a warm place, cover to prevent drying, 86 
HEALTH FOR EVERY DAY 
and watch them for a few days to see whether mold 
can grow without food and without water. 
Dry bread and mold 
Fig. 75. This is the way the three dishes looked when the experiment 
was started. 
Wet bread and mold 
Mold only 
Need for water. Did the molds grow on the dry 
bread? Can the mold plants use the food in the bread 
if they haven't water? 
We, too, need water for growth. Like the mold 
plants, we can't use our food materials unless we have 
plenty of water. 
TEA 
MILK 
COFFEE' 
Fig. 76. Which of these three drinks is best for growing children? 
Children should drink four or five glasses of water a 
day, and grown people should have at least eight 
glasses. That means rather large glasses, which hold 
half a pint. How many pints should you drink? How 
many pints should grown people drink each day? 
Even if you drink milk or other liquids, too, it will not 
hurt you to drink the full amount of water - at least 
four glasses each day. 
There is no drink so refreshing as plain water. When FOOD AND WATER 
87 
we are very warm and thirsty, plain cold water seems 
to satisfy most people better than any other drink. 
Even when we have other things to drink, such as ice- 
cream soda or "soft drinks," we often take a glass of 
cold water, too, before we feel satisfied. 
Some people think alcoholic drinks, such as wine 
and beer, are more refreshing than any other kind; but 
Fig. 77. These cattle on one of the Western ranches are making their 
daily visit to a water hole or pond. {Courtesy of American Museum 
Natural History) 
when men are shipwrecked at sea or lost in the prairies 
or deserts, the drink they long for is water. When they 
are awake they thirst for water; when they sleep they 
dream of cool springs and splashing waterfalls. 
Animals like water too. People who study birds will 
tell you that one of the best places to find birds is along 88 
HEALTH FOR EVERY DAY 
a brook or stream. Bird baths or basins on lawns 
attract birds. 
In dry regions wild animals sometimes travel long 
distances to find water. Springs or water holes often 
have well-marked paths made by animals which go 
there regularly to drink. 
Fig. 78. This cow produced over 25,000 pints of milk in one year. That 
is enough to feed 35 babies for a whole year, if each drinks a quart a day. 
(Courtesy of United States Department of Agriculture) 
Just because certain animals can get along with very 
little water, people sometimes get the mistaken idea 
that water isn't good for such animals. Once people 
thought that about sheep. But experiments showed 
that, although they could get along without it, because 
they ate green plants and wet grass, the sheep that 
had water to drink grew to be larger and stronger 
than the sheep that were not allowed to have it. FOOD AND WATER 
89 
Have you heard people say that rabbits will not live 
if you give them water? That isn't true either. Do 
any people you know give water to their rabbits? 
How animals drink. Notice the different ways in 
which animals drink. The horse puts his head down 
into the water and sucks it up into his mouth and 
down into his throat, just as you use a soda-water 
straw. Can you suck water in that way? What other 
animals drink like horses? 
How do cats and dogs drink? How do birds and 
chickens drink? Do ducks and geese drink in the same 
way? Every time the chicken takes a mouthful of 
water, it has to lift its head so that the water can run 
down its throat. 
Drinking slowly. Notice how long it takes a thirsty 
chicken to get all the water it wants. We can drink so 
much more rapidly that we should be careful not to 
swallow cold drinks too fast. Very cold things, like 
ice water, chill the stomach, and then we may not 
digest our food so well nor so quickly as we should. 
Nor is it wise to drink much cold water when we are 
very warm; sip cold drinks slowly. 
Water at meal time. Do not drink when you have 
food in your mouth. Never wash your food down 
with water, milk, or other liquids. Wait until the food 
has been properly chewed and has left the mouth. If 
bread, crackers, or other dry foods are chewed until 
they are in very small pieces, well mixed with saliva, 
you will not feel that you need to wash your food 
down with water or milk. 90 
HEALTH FOR EVERY DAY 
This does not mean that we should not drink water 
at meal times. If we are careful to chew our food 
thoroughly, drinking water and milk with our meals 
will do no harm and probably helps digestion. 
The food of plants. This photograph of little pea 
plants shows two plants which are very different in 
size. A week ago they were both the same size. 
Fig. 79. Look at the next picture to see how much alike these pea plants 
were five days ago. 
Each little plant, as you see, has two bags of food 
material. This food gives it a good start, as the fol- 
lowing experiment shows. 
From one plant we cut off both bags of food, but we 
left all the food with the other plant. Which plant in 
Figure 79 was allowed to keep all its food? Can you 
tell which one lost its food? FOOD AND WATER 
91 
Minerals for plant foods. The corn plants on the 
next page are growing in water, with different kinds of 
food material, such as iron and lime, dissolved in it. 
The first jar has all the mineral foods that corn plants 
need, and, as you see, the plant is growing very well 
Fig. 8o. This is 
the way the two 
pea plants looked 
five days ago. 
The next picture 
shows you why 
they grew to be 
such different look- 
ing plants. 
Fig. 8i. From one little plant 
was cut the food which it 
needed to get its start in life. 
indeed. The second jar hasn't any iron in it, though 
it has lime and all the other minerals needed, and this 
plant is very pale - not healthy and green as it should 
be. The third jar hasn't any lime, but it has all the 
other minerals that the first jar has. The plant in this 
jar has kept green, but it has grown very little indeed, 
as this picture shows. 
Minerals for animal and human foods. Animals 
need minerals just as much as plants do. We get our 
lime and iron and sulphur and other minerals from 
our foods - especially from fruits, vegetables, milk, 
eggs, fish, and meat. 92 
HEALTH FOR EVERY DAY 
Ho lime 
Po iron. 
All needed minerak 
Fig. 82. Plants, like animals and humans, need mineral foods. The 
middle plant is not green, because there was no iron in the water in which 
it is growing. The plant on the left is green, but its growth is poor because 
it was not given any lime. Lime, iron and all the minerals corn plants 
need were put into the water for the plant on the right. 
Here is a list of foods which have the minerals we 
need:- 
Spinach 
Beans 
Cauliflower 
Cabbage 
Lettuce 
Eggs 
Tomatoes 
Milk 
Celery 
Cheese 
Fruits 
Fish 
Asparagus 
Carrots 
Whole wheat flour 
Potatoes FOOD AND WATER 
93 
Most animals are very fond of salt. Cows and 
horses sometimes eat soil, especially when they have 
been shut up in the stable for a long time. What do 
they get from the soil that they like? Sometimes 
farmers keep a lump of rock salt in each manger, so that 
the cows and horses can get salt whenever they want it. 
Food variety. Deer often come at night to gardens 
near the forest where they live and eat vegetables, 
especially cabbages, carrots, lettuce, beets, peas, and 
even strawberry plants. 
Do you like as many kinds of vegetables as deer do? 
Woodchucks, wild rabbits, and prairie dogs eat even 
more kinds of plants than deer. What kinds do you 
like that are not on the deer's list? 
See if you can add a new vegetable to your list every 
year. Watch the markets and look over the seed 
catalogues; and when you see a vegetable that your 
mother doesn't serve on the table, ask about it, be- 
cause it might be a good one to learn to eat. 
Often animals that we keep as pets, or to work for us, 
are given too much of one or two kinds of food. Ani- 
mals as well as people like a change. Farmers some- 
times wonder why a cow will chew bushes and tips 
of tree branches when there is plenty of grass in the 
pasture. Can you tell them why? 
Animals feeding in an ordinary field or pasture eat 
a good many different kinds of plants besides grass - 
sometimes as many as twenty or thirty kinds. Have 
you noticed any wild plants that horses, cows, and 
sheep do not eat? 94 
HEALTH FOR EVERY DAY 
Those who train dogs, horses, etc. to do tricks re- 
ward them by giving them a special food, like apple 
or sugar. Have you ever noticed how fond cats are 
of catnip? Does your canary like chickweed? Cats 
and dogs often like surprising things, such as canta- 
loupe, corn, and chocolate. What unusual things do 
your pets like? 
Food for growth. Here are two chickens which 
were of the same size and weight when they were three 
Fig. 83. These chickens were the same age and size when they were a 
few days old. After that, the one on the left was given skim milk and 
grain, while the right-hand one was given whole milk and grain. This 
shows that cream has in it something which helps growth. (Courtesy 
of Professor J. G. Halpin, University of Wisconsin') 
days old. Then they were fed different kinds of food 
for fifteen days. Which chicken had the best food for 
growth? 
Children who are growing very fast, getting larger 
all the time, making more bone, more skin, and more FOOD AND WATER 
95 
muscle, need plenty of good food for growth. Chil- 
dren need more food in proportion to their size than 
grown people, for they have to have food for growth 
as well as for repair and work and heat. Young birds 
are very interesting examples of animals that use a 
large amount of food and grow very rapidly. 
Scrape your elbow or your knee with your finger 
nail, and see if you can scrape off some of the old dry 
skin scales. All over the body the skin is wearing off 
in this same way, but it is more easily noticed on the 
knees and elbows. As the outside skin wears off, new 
skin is formed underneath. 
Not only our skin, but many other parts of our 
bodies, are constantly wearing out, just as every part 
of an engine is constantly wearing out when it runs. 
The food we eat gives us the material to repair or build 
up all parts of the body as they wear out. 
Food for work. Our food gives us strength to do 
our work. When we work hard we need more food. 
We feel hungrier, and that makes us eat more. What 
are the kinds of work or exercise that give you a good 
appetite? Why do we say "eats like a woodchopper"? 
On what day of the week do we do the least work or 
take the least exercise? It is Sunday in most homes. 
Yet on that day many people have heavier dinners 
and eat more than on the days when they work hard. 
Some people eat only two meals on Sundays. Why 
is that a good plan for people who do not exercise on 
Sundays and holidays? Do careful farmers give their 
horses full meals on days when they do not work? 96 
HEALTH FOR EVERY DAY 
Here are two lists: (i) foods which are very good for 
growth; (2) foods especially good for heat and work. 
Growth 
Beans 
Peas 
Carrots 
Milk 
Eggs 
Fish 
Chicken 
Beef 
Cheese 
Whole wheat bread 
Lamb 
Heat and Work 
Beans 
Peas 
Cornstarch 
Butter 
Sugar 
Ice cream 
Cereal 
Salad oil 
Bacon 
White bread 
Potatoes 
Pick out of the first column things we often eat for 
dinner that are good for growth. Are there any foods 
for breakfast in the growth list? Find three of them 
in the heat and work column. Are there any dinner 
foods in the heat and work list? 
Food for a day. Here is the food eaten by a boy of 
ten in one day: 
Breakfast 
Orange 
Oatmeal 
Sugar 
Egg 
Milk 
Toast and butter 
Lunch 
Hot biscuit 
Butter 
Creamed potatoes 
Spinach 
Gingerbread 
Apple sauce 
Cocoa 
Sugar 
Dinner 
Brown bread 
Butter 
Bean soup 
Codfish 
Peas and carrots 
Milk 
Potatoes 
Ice cream FOOD AND WATER 
97 
Did this boy eat one growth food each meal? Name 
one heat and work food that he ate each time. 
Milk as food. Milk has a great many kinds of food 
in it. Cow's milk is nearly a perfect food for babies 
and for little animals. Even grown people can live 
on it for weeks at a time. But it doesn't have 
Fig. 84. Little bears do not need to read a book in order to learn that 
milk is the best food for growth. {Photograph by William L. and Irene 
Finley. Courtesy of Nature Magazine, Washington, D. C.) 
enough of all the kinds of food we need, and usually 
even little babies do better when they have some food 
besides the milk, such as prune juice or orange juice. 
Eating too much. If we eat more food than our 
bodies need, it may make us too fat and heavy. Too 98 
HEALTH FOR EVERY DAY 
much food makes too much work for the body, for 
it tries to digest all that is eaten. Sometimes the 
stomach gives up trying, and then it may vomit the 
food; or we may have severe pain or restless nights and 
bad dreams, to warn us that something is wrong. 
"Eat to live but do not live to eat" is an old proverb 
that most of you have heard. Our food nowadays 
is cooked in so many attractive ways that we are 
often tempted to eat more than we should. Benjamin 
Franklin once said that we eat twice as much as men 
used to eat before they knew so many tempting ways 
of cooking foods. 
Here are three sentences from Poor Richard's 
Almanac, which Franklin wrote in 1742, showing what 
he thought about how much food we should eat: 
1. Excess in all things whatever, as well as in meat and 
drink, is to be avoided. 
2. Would'st thou enjoy a long life, a healthy body, and 
a vigorous mind, and be acquainted also with the wonder- 
ful works of God, labor in the first place to bring thy appe- 
tite to reason. 
3. Youth, age, and sick require a different quantity. 
It is very hard to say just how much children of 
your age should eat, for you are of different sizes and 
weights, and take very different kinds of exercise. If 
you are very much underweight or overweight, you 
are probably not eating the right kinds and amounts 
of food. If you feel heavy or lazy after meals, you are 
eating too much at one time. FOOD AND WATER 
99 
Do you remember the story of Kaa, the snake, in 
The Jungle Book? Snakes and tigers sleep and sleep 
after they have eaten heavily, but we who eat several 
Fig. 85. A number of New York City children were so thin that several 
nurses were asked to take groups of five and help them get strong and 
well during the summer. This picture shows one of the groups that made 
the greatest improvement. {Courtesy of Henry Street Settlement) 
regular meals a day should not feel that way. How- 
ever, doctors tell us that we should not work or play 
hard just after a meal. 
Little children and other people who do not get 100 
HEALTH FOR EVERY DAY 
Girls 
Boys 
Height 
8 
9 
10 
11 
12 
13 
1 leight 
8 
9 
10 
II 
12 
13 
Inches 
Yrs. 
Yrs. 
Yrs. 
Yrs. 
Yrs. 
Yrs. 
Inches 
Yrs. 
Yrs. 
Yrs. 
Yrs. 
Yrs. 
Yrs. 
38 
38 
39 
39 
40 
40 
4i 
4i 
42 
42 
39 
43 
4i 
43 
4i 
44 
42 
44 
44 
45 
45 
45 
45 
46 
46 
46 
48 
48 
46 
48 
48 
47 
50 
50 
5° 
47 
50 
5° 
5o 
48 
52 
52 
53 
53 
48 
53 
53 
53 
49 
55 
55 
56 
56 
49 
55 
55 
55 
55 
5° 
57 
58 
59 
61 
62 
50 
58 
58 
58 
58 
58 
5i 
60 
61 
61 
63 
65 
5i 
61 
61 
61 
61 
61 
52 
64 
64 
64 
6.5 
67 
52 
64 
64 
64 
6l 
64 
64 
53 
67 
67 
68 
68 
69 
7i 
53 
67 
67 
67 
67 
68 
68 
54 
69 
70 
70 
7i 
7i 
73 
54 
70 
70 
70 
70 
7i 
7i 
55 
72 
74 
74 
74 
75 
77 
55 
72 
72 
73 
73 
74 
74 
56 
76 
78 
78 
79 
81 
56 
75 
76 
77 
7 7 
77 
78 
57 
80 
82 
82 
82 
84 
57 
79 
80 
81 
81 
82 
58 
84 
86 
86 
88 
58 
8? 
84 
84 
8 c 
85 
59 
87 
90 
9° 
92 
59 
87 
88 
89 
89 
60 
9i 
95 
95 
97 
9i 
92 
92 
93 
61 
99 
104 
61 
95 
96 
97 
102 
62 
105 
110 
106 
62 
IOI 
63 
105 
106 
107 
64 
1 r4 
US 
109 
III 
65 
118 
6c 
114 
117 
66 
124 
119 
67 
128 
124 
AGE-HEIGHT-WEIGHT TABLES * 
Fig. 86. To find the average weight of most boys and girls of your age 
and height read down from your age and across from your height until 
your two reading paths meet. A boy of 8 years old and 50 inches high 
usually weighs about 58 pounds. Find as directed, 58 in the Table. 
What would you expect a boy 8 years old and 51 inches high to weigh? 
• The above parts of revised tables prepared by Dr. Thomas D. Wood and Dr. Bird T. 
Baldwin are included through the courtesy of the American Child Health Association. The 
complete tables may be obtained from the Association, 370 Seventh Avenue, New York City. 
Age is taken at the nearest birthday, height at the nearest inch, and weight at the nearest 
pound. In taking the height or weight remove outdoor clothing, shoes and coat. 
Thousands of boys and girls were measured to get these average weights; but healthy 
children may be several pounds heavier or lighter, especially if they are of very slender or 
very stout build. FOOD AND WATER 
101 
enough sleep at night often find the easiest time to 
take a nap is soon after the noontime meal. Why is 
this so? 
Sweet foods. Foods which taste sweet contain some 
kind of sugar. What kinds of sugar do you know? 
The kind usually sold in stores is 
made from sugar beets or sugar cane. 
Such sweet fruits as grapes, cherries, 
peaches, and plums or prunes contain 
a kind of sugar known as fruit sugar. 
Although milk is not very sweet, there 
is in it a sugar called milk sugar. This 
is often added to cow's milk when it is 
modified for feeding babies. Name 
one very sweet food that we get from 
animals. Sugar is a food; but our 
bodies cannot take care of a great deal 
of candy or other things made largely 
of sugar. If we eat too much sugar, 
we may have trouble in digesting our 
food. Sometimes too much sugar 
makes people ill. 
The best plan is to eat sweet foods 
at the end of the meal. You are not likely to eat so 
much then as between meals. Besides, sweets spoil 
the appetite for other foods; that is one reason why 
we should not eat candy and other sweets just before 
meals. 
Fruits contain sugar as well as minerals. Eating 
fruits is a very good way of getting our sugar, because 
Fig. 87. A carpen- 
ter's square is bet- 
ter than a ruler for 
measuring height. 102 
HEALTH FOR EVERY DAY 
most people are not so likely to eat too much fruit as 
they are to eat too much candy and other sweet food. 
Getting too hungry. It is not good for us to get too 
hungry. Little children have very small stomachs - 
a baby's stomach is only about as large as a teacup - 
and they cannot take enough food to last many hours. 
Sometimes babies are cross just because they are hun- 
gry. A glass of milk, some graham crackers, and fruit, 
between meals, will keep little children from becoming 
too hungry. It is often good for you to eat a small 
sandwich or something of that kind at recess time, or 
when you come home from school. 
Of course eating between meals is not a good thing 
to do if it spoils your appetite for the next meal. If 
people do it only when they are really hungry, because 
they have been doing unusually hard work, or because 
the meals are farther apart than usual, it will not spoil 
the next meal. Do ice cream, "pop," or "sodas" ever 
spoil your appetite? 
Some mothers make it a rule to give the children food 
between meals only when they are hungry enough to 
eat bread and butter, or plain crackers and milk. Why 
is that a good rule? A little ripe fruit may be eaten 
too, such as an orange, an apple, a pear, or a small 
banana. 
Another food rule is not to eat just before a meal, 
because to do so is quite sure to spoil the appetite and 
make you eat less of the nourishing food you need. 
Be careful where you eat. Many people eat too 
much, especially on picnics or outings. As soon as FOOD FOR RIGHT LIVING 
You cannot have good health without 
good food properly prepared. 
Food must do three important things: 
1. Furnish building material for the growth of the body 
2. Supply the fuel which the body needs to do its work. 
3. Rebuild the worn-out tissues.muscles.nerves.etc', 
so that the body may thrive 
WHAT TO EAT 
Well cooked cereals 
Vegetables and fruits 
Whole wheat,brown and corn bread 
Meat-not more than once a day 
Milk.butter, eggs, cheese 
Fish-when absolutely fresh 
Hard foods which compel thor- 
ough chewing-crusts.fruits nuts 
Milk and cocoa are nourishing foods 
as well as beverages 
WHAT TO AVOID 
Over eating 
Eating too fast 
Eating when very tired or excited 
Too much meat and eggs 
Unripe Fruit 
Fried foods-hard to digest 
'Sharp'relishes-often harmful 
Alcoholic drinks-always harmful 
Tea and coffee, especially 
bad for children 
Several glasses of water daily Sipping is safer and healthier 
than gulping. Very hot and ice cold drinks are often harmful. 
DRINK 
RULES TO OBSERVE 
Seek variety in your food, 
(hew thoroughly everything you eat. 
I Don't rely on drugs to aid digestion. 
! Avoid unpleasant talk during meals. 
Committee on Health Problems 
National Council of Education 
Fig. 88. On which of these rules do you need to work hardest? 
{Courtesy of Dr. Thomas D. Wood and the American Medical Association) 
103 104 
HEALTH FOR EVERY DAY 
some people start out for a trip they begin to eat and 
drink. At the first slot machine they buy candy or 
chewing gum, and every time they change cars or trol- 
leys, they look around for "hot dogs" or ice cream 
cones or soft drinks. 
People often eat in places where the dishes aren't 
properly washed. Watch, the next time you are trav- 
eling or shopping, and see how many people buy food 
at places where there isn't hot water to wash hands 
and dishes properly. 
There isn't any good reason for eating between meals 
while we are traveling. People eat then just because 
they haven't anything else to do, and they don't stop 
to think whether the food is safe and clean, or whether 
their own hands are clean enough to handle it. They 
eat because they haven't enough self-control to refuse 
food when they see it on the street carts and counters. 
Have you? 
Care in handling milk. Milk is one of the foods that 
we must be careful about. It is the main food for 
little children, and it spoils or sours very quickly if it is 
not kept cool. Keep the milk in the coolest part of the 
cellar or ice box - on the cellar floor, or next to the ice. 
Wash the bottles thoroughly before opening them, 
especially around the top. After taking out the milk 
you need, cover the bottle with a fresh clean cover (a 
little cup or a jelly glass cover will do very well), and 
put the rest of the milk back next to the ice. 
If there are any flies around, be very sure to keep 
the milk covered while it is out in the room. Many FOOD AND WATER 
105 
people are very careless about protecting the milk 
bottles and cream pitchers against dust and flies. 
Farmers have to be very careful how they milk the 
cows, and how they care for the milk cans and pails. 
It is very hard to keep all the bad germs out of milk. 
Cows are often very dirty, and the dust in the air of 
the barn is full of germs that we don't want in our food. 
Often cows, and the people who milk the cows or 
handle the milk, have diseases; and so in some places 
the law says that all milk must be heated to kill disease 
germs, unless the health officers know that the milk 
comes from cows that haven't tuberculosis, and is 
handled in a very careful and clean way. 
Turn to the chapter on Enemies Too Small to See, 
and read about heating milk to make it safe. It may 
be safe without being heated, but heating it makes us 
sure it will not cause disease. 
Safe water. Sometimes even water that looks clean 
and pure may have in it the germs of diseases like 
typhoid fever. In the spring of 1924 over sixty boys 
and girls caught typhoid fever by drinking the water 
from a brook in a park near New York City. If you 
are not sure that the water you are drinking is pure, 
safe water, boil it before you drink it. On hikes and 
picnics, you cannot always be sure about the water in 
springs and brooks; and then it is much safer to boil 
the water before you drink it or use it for washing 
your hands or foods that you eat raw, such as lettuce. 
Drinking cups. If at any time there aren't enough 
cups for each person to have one of his own, make one 106 
HEALTH FOR EVERY DAY 
for yourself out of a piece of paper. Any clean paper 
will do, even a page out of the back of a magazine. 
An easy way to make a drinking cup is to roll the 
piece of paper like this, and then turn up the bottom. 
You will have to hold it carefully, putting your hand 
around it, but you can get a very good drink with this 
kind of cup. 
How teeth help digestion. To make proper use of 
our food we must have good teeth. Watch a cow 
Fig. 89. Roll a sheet of paper and bend the bottom up to make a cup 
like the one on the left. Then bend the top over as shown on the right. 
Practice until you can make one that does not leak, when you keep your 
hand around the bottom part. 
chewing her cud. As she grinds her food between her 
back teeth the lower jaw moves from side to side. 
With what teeth do we chew things that need to be 
chewed a long time? Which are our grinding teeth? 
our cutting teeth? 
Lions, cats, dogs, and other animals that eat flesh FOOD AND WATER 
107 
need another kind of teeth, pointed, sharp ones, to sink 
into the flesh and tear it apart. Our teeth that take 
the place of the dog's tearing teeth are not so long and 
so sharp-pointed as the tearing teeth of such animals, 
but we still call them "canine" or "dog teeth." We 
use them as much for cutting as anything else. Look 
Fig. 90. Examine your teeth with the aid of a small mirror and find your 
cutting teeth, your tearing teeth, and your grinding teeth. Are your 
tearing teeth like the dog's? 
in a mirror and, counting from the middle, see if the 
third tooth on each side looks at all like the dog's tear- 
ing teeth. Some people have very pointed "dog teeth." 
Most of us chew our food too little. Chew a piece of 
bread or plain soda cracker, and notice how much 
sweeter it becomes as you chew it. If we do not take 
proper care of our teeth, will they cut and grind our 
food properly? Can you give one reason why indi- 
gestion is often due to poor teeth? DENTAL CLINIC 
Fig. 91. Why do we call the toothbrush the first line of defense? What 
is the enemy? If the toothbrush fails to keep the enemy away, where 
can you go for help? {After Health News') 
108 FOOD AND WATER 
109 
In September, 1924, this clipping was taken from a 
New York City newspaper: 
$100 Prize for Pupil With Best 
Teeth To Be Awarded Tuesday 
The boy or girl in the public schools of 
this city who has the best set of teeth will 
be presented with $100 next Tuesday at 
the conclusion of the contest conducted by 
the United Neighborhood Houses. The 
contest so far has shown that Italian chil- 
dren have the best teeth, with boys 
and girls running neck and neck for first 
honors. A surprising knowledge of den- 
tal hygiene was shown by the children, 
the contest conductors announced. 
What are the things we should know about caring 
for our teeth? There are three at least: (1) keep your 
teeth clean as directed on page no; (2) go to a dentist at 
Fig. 92. Soft twigs like willow make very good toothbrushes. Hammer 
the end of a small twig like this until you get bristles at the end. You 
can afford to use a fresh toothbrush of this kind every time. 
least twice a year to see if your teeth need his help; 
(3) have every cavity filled promptly, even in the first 
set of teeth, because if they are lost too soon the second 
teeth will not be so good as they would be otherwise. 
Cheerfulness helps digestion. Getting overtired or 
angry may keep us from digesting our food properly, or 
make us feel like not eating at all, and that is bad for 
our health. 
We can't always prevent getting tired, or angry, or 110 
HEALTH FOR EVERY DAY 
sad, but we should try to think of pleasant things at 
meal times, at least. We get more good from a cheer- 
ful meal than from a sad one. There is an old saying, 
"Eat, drink, and be merry." Change it to, "Be merry 
when you eat and drink." 
When people are overtired or ill, they should eat 
little food, and food which is easily digested. 
Everybody should have one or two bowel movements 
daily. It is not wise to eat heavily when the bowels 
Fig. 93. Is your toothbrush 
small enough to get around 
and behind your back teeth? 
Are the bristles uneven enough 
to clean between your teeth? 
Fig. 94. Why would this brush dry more 
quickly than the ones in Fig. 95? 
are not working properly. There are medicines, called 
laxatives, that may be used in such cases; but it is much 
better to cure yourself by better eating habits, such 
as eating whole wheat or graham bread instead of white, 
and plenty of coarse cereals, fruits, and vegetables. 
Regular exercise, especially in the open air, is also very 
helpful. If laxatives are often necessary, a doctor 
should advise you, because it is easy to form a habit 
of depending upon such medicines. 
All wastes from the body should be removed regularly. 
Regular habits of this kind formed now will do much 
to improve your health, while carelessness may affect 
vour whole life. FOOD AND WATER 
111 
Table maimers. Did you ever think how much dif- 
ference good table manners make? 
They say that only humans drink without putting 
the mouth into the water - by merely putting the lips 
to the edge of the glass. That's a much daintier way 
of drinking, isn't it? Did you ever see any one who 
drank almost like a cow or a horse? 
Is it polite to put a spoon which has been in your 
own mouth into the sugar bowl, or a knife which you 
Fig. 95. If your toothbrush is not uneven like one of these, you can cut 
it with scissors to make one of the shapes. 
have been using into the butter dish? A person should 
use a toothpick only when he is alone, and not in the 
presence of others. 
No one likes to have others think he is a piggish 
animal. Yet persons who are too polite to take the 
largest pieces of cake sometimes eat in so rude a manner 
that every one around them is disgusted. People who 
gulp their food, or smack their lips, or chew with their 
lips open may " take away the appetite" of people near 
them. That isn't a fair thing to do; everybody should 
cultivate good table manners. HEALTH TABLE 
Here are 19 things to do which will give SO Credits. 
Since you may not be able to earn the whole number 
every day, let us call 25 a perfect score; how near 25 
can you earn daily through a whole month? 
Number 
Things to do every day 
Credits 
1 
Eat fruit at least once 
1 
2 
Eat two vegetables 
1 1 
3 
Eat fish or eggs instead of meat 
1 
4 
Eat no candy between meals 
1 
5 
Drink 4 glasses of water 
Illi 
6 
Drink 4 glasses of milk 
Illi 
7 
Do not drink tea or coffee 
1 
8 
Sleep with your window open 
1 
9 
Sleep at least 10 hours 
1 
10 
Sleep 11 hours or more 
1 
11 
Clean your teeth on rising 
1 
12 
Clean your teeth at bedtime 
1 
13 
Clean your teeth after meals 
1 1 1 
14 
Have clean hands and face at meals 
1 1 1 
15 
Have clean hands and face in school 
1 
16 
Take a full bath, if possible 
1 
17 
Have at least one bowel movement 
1 
18 
Play or work one hour out of doors 
1 
19 
Help make meal time pleasant 
1 
Total credits 
30 
Give yourself a mark for each credit in the middle 
column on the opposite page. If there are more 
than 25 any day, write dozen 25 and call the rest 
"good measure •" 
112 HEALTH SCORE CARD 
of. inSchool 
GradeYear. 
Day 
For month of 
Total 
Credits 
1 
2 
3 
4 
5 
6 
7 
8 
9 
10 
11 
12 
13 
14 
15 
16 
17 
18 
19 
20 
21 
22 
23 
24 
25 
26 
27 
28 
29 
30 
31 
113 114 
HEALTH FOR EVERY DAY 
THINGS TO ASK, ANSWER, TELL, OR DO 
1. Why is it better to eat three meals a day than only one? 
2. Name two things necessary for growth. 
3. Give two rules to follow in drinking cold water. 
4. Why should you not drink when you have food in your 
mouth? 
5. What are two important minerals found in plant foods? 
6. Why should you eat vegetables and fruits? 
7. What two things does the food we eat do for the body? 
8. Why is milk nearly a perfect food for babies? 
9. Name three ways in which overeating may harm us. 
10. How can you tell whether you are eating too much? 
11. Why should we not work or play hard just after a meal? 
12. Give two reasons why sweet foods should be eaten at 
the end of the meal instead of between meals. 
13. Is it ever wise to eat between meals? If so, when? 
14. What are some of the mistakes which are made in eating 
at picnics and outings? 
15. Find and read three rules to follow in the care of milk. 
16. How can milk be made safe from disease germs? 
17. What disease may come from drinking impure water? 
18. What would you do if the only drinking water which you 
could get was not safe to drink? 
19. Why should each person have his own drinking cup? 
20. What should you do to keep your teeth in good condition? 
21. Why is it necessary to have good teeth? 
22. Find and learn a motto to remember when you eat. 
23. How can you usually get your bowels to work properly 
without the use of medicines? 
24. Read the paragraph on forming regular habits. 
25. Make a list of "don'ts" found under "Table Manners." 
Add as many more to the list as you can. 
26. Why should you cultivate good table manners? Fig. 96. An outdoor school is possible in many places - at least part 
of the year. This one in Woolwich, England, accepts only pupils sent 
by the school physicians. We need such schools to keep children healthy 
as well as to cure those who are ill. (Courtesy of Mr. H. Broughton) 
CHAPTER V 
AIR AND HEALTH 
Air needed in the body. Would you guess that every 
twenty-four hours a grown person breathes in and out 
of his lungs over seventy barrels of air? 
It doesn't seem possible, does it? That is because 
we take in very little each time: grown people, half 
a quart or a little more in each breath, and children, 
of course, much less, - about one-quarter to one-third 
of a quart for boys and girls eight to ten years old. 
115 116 
HEALTH FOR EVERY DAY 
But we take in a great deal of air in a whole day because 
we breathe so often. 
How often do we breathe? Use a watch that has a 
second hand, and count how many times you breathe 
in one minute. Is the rate the same for every child 
in your class? To find out, have some one give signals 
so that you can all tell just when a minute begins and 
20 cl nu/nuti 
60 (jlu/nutcA cm an fiowv) 
12 00 IjLfrruLi cun Aciul 
14 (n#u/u un a. done) 
4800 ° 
2400 
IfbflOO turner a. 
Fig. 97. If, each time this boy breathed, he took in one-fourth of a quart 
of air, how many quarts would he take into his lungs in a day? 
ends, and see how often children of your age do breathe 
in a minute. 
A boy ten years old found that he breathed about 
20 times a minute. Every hour has 60 minutes, so it 
would be 60 times as often for an hour. In an hour 
he breathed 60 times 20 or 1200 times. In 24 hours, 
or one day, he would breathe 24 times as often, of 
course. That makes 24 times 1200, or 28,800 times a 
day. In this same way work out how many times you 
breathe in a day. 
Look back to the first page of this chapter and see 
how much air you take in each time you breathe. 
Counting 4 quarts to a gallon and 50 gallons to a AIR AND HEALTH 
117 
barrel, work out, as in the example in Figure 97, how 
many barrels of air you breathe in a day. 
Babies breathe faster than older children. Ask sev- 
eral children in your class who have babies at home, 
less than one year old, to see if they can count how fast 
a baby breathes. Have others try to find out how fast 
Fig. 98. In this outdoor school in London, England, the boys are build- 
ing their own schoolhouse. The pupils were sent to this school because 
their health was poor and they needed outdoor life and fresh air. 
{Courtesy of Mr. H. Broughton) 
children between two and four breathe. Do older 
people breathe faster or more slowly than you do? Do 
you breathe faster than your mother and father? 
Exercise and breathing. How much difference does 
exercise make in the rate at which you breathe? Take 
your breathing rate after you have been sitting quietly 
for ten or fifteen minutes; then run or skip rope or hop 118 
HEALTH FOR EVERY DAY 
up and down for five minutes, and take your breathing 
rate again. Why do we need to breathe faster when 
we exercise? Any part of our body which is working 
needs more air than when at rest. 
Why we need air. Why do we need to take in air 
all the time? It is because we need the oxygen that 
the air contains. About one-fifth of the air is oxygen 
- a colorless gas which we cannot see. 
We cannot live without this oxygen because our 
muscles and all other living parts of the body are using 
oxygen all the time. We take it into the lungs with 
the air we breathe. There in the lungs ' the oxygen 
goes into the blood. 
The blood with its oxygen goes from the lungs to the 
heart, which pumps it to every part of the body. This 
happens in a very short time; for example, it takes only 
about twenty to twenty-five seconds for blood to get 
from your heart to'your fingers or toes. From all parts 
of the body blood comes back to the lungs for more 
oxygen, and then the heart again pumps it throughout 
the body. 
The air we breathe out. When the blood comes back 
to the lungs, it has still some of the oxygen left; it 
doesn't lose all of it as it travels around the body. By 
the time it gets back to the lungs it has another gas 
that it must get rid of. This gas is called carbon diox- 
ide. It passes from the blood into the air in the lungs, 
and is then breathed out into the air around us. 
Carbon dioxide makes limewater milky. To prove 
to yourself that the air coming out of your lungs does AIR AND HEALTH 
119 
contain carbon dioxide, breathe through a straw or a 
glass tube into a glass of limewater, and see how milky 
the limewater becomes. 
The air around us always has some carbon dioxide 
in it. Set a glass of limewater on the table or desk 
for an hour or two to see if it becomes milky. 
Fig. 99. These two glasses are filled with limewater. As this little girl 
blows her breath into one of them the air from her lungs rises in bubbles 
through the limewater. Why does the limewater in the glass become 
milky or cloudy? 
We don't want to breathe in the same air we breathed 
out, then, do we? It hasn't so much oxygen as air 
we haven't breathed. Is it a good thing to sleep with 
our heads under the covers? Why are mothers so care- 
ful to see that the baby's face isn't covered by the 
blankets? 120 
HEALTH FOR EVERY DAY 
Breathe on a clean piece of glass. Why does the 
glass become cloudy? Does the air you breathe out 
Fig. ioo. How many counts or degrees for each space in the left ther- 
mometer? in the one on the right? Which is like your school ther- 
mometer? Is the temperature reading of these thermometers suitable 
temperature for schoolrooms? 
contain more or less water than the air you breathed 
in? Where does the water or moisture come from? 
On very cold days you can see the water in your 
breath without breathing against glass. When the air 
is cold it turns the water vapor in your breath to tiny 
drops of water, large enough to be seen. AIR AND HEALTH 
121 
Water, then, is a second thing that the air in our 
lungs removes from our body. The first one was car- 
bon dioxide. There is still a third thing, and that is 
heat. 
You all know that the air which leaves the lungs car- 
ries heat out with it, because you breathe on your 
fingers on a cold day to make them warm. Did you 
ever breathe on a cold, frosty window pane to melt the 
frost or ice, so you could see out of the window? 
There is another way of showing that air leaving the 
lungs carries out heat. What is the temperature of the 
schoolroom? What is the temperature of the air you 
are breathing in? Hold a thermometer close to your 
mouth and breathe gently upon it. How many de- 
grees can you make the mercury rise? Where did the 
heat come from? 
Write on the blackboard the three things that are in 
the air we breathe out. Give them all in one sentence 
like the following (the dashes will tell you how many 
letters belong in each word): 
The air coming from our lungs carries out 
, and 
Keeping dust out of the lungs. Sometimes the air 
holds dust or smoke that we ought not to take into 
our lungs. How do we keep them from going into the 
lungs? 
Hold a hand mirror so that you can see the tiny 
hairs in your nose. These little hairs help to catch the 
small particles of dust. After you finish sweeping, or 122 
HEALTH FOR EVERY DAY 
dusting, or raking the stove, or sifting the ashes, or 
walking through a cloud of dust, you may notice that 
a great deal of dust has collected in your nose. If you 
breathe properly - with your mouth closed - most of 
the dust will stay in the nose and you can get rid of it 
by using your handkerchief. 
Keep your mouth closed if you have to go through 
dust and smoke in railroad tunnels, or dusty streets or 
roads. Firemen and other people often have to stay 
in smoky, bad air for a long time. They often wear 
masks, like the gas masks soldiers used in the war, to 
keep out things that would injure the lungs. If you are 
ever caught in a smoky building, tie a wet handker- 
chief around your mouth and nose. That will help a 
little; perhaps just enough to save your life. 
Aids in breathing. All the muscles in the walls of 
our chests - even the little short muscles between the 
ribs - must be in good condition to make sure we keep 
plenty of fresh air in our lungs. Exercises like singing 
or whistling develop our chest muscles because they 
make us take in larger amounts of air. Blowing soap 
bubbles is also a good lung exercise. Notice how you 
draw in all the air your lungs can hold when you try to 
blow a very large soap bubble. 
Keeping good sitting and standing positions - with 
the chest up - are good chest exercises too. Take in 
a long breath and see if you can feel your ribs lift as 
the muscles between them tighten. 
Some people can hold very large amounts of air in 
their lungs. If you fell into deep water, how would AIR AND HEALTH 
123 
it help you if you could hold your breath for a long 
time? Why must water be kept out of the lungs? 
Swimmers, while diving, have to hold their breath as 
long as they are under water. 
How long can you hold your breath? It is hard to 
be very sure, because sometimes you let a little air in 
Fig. ioi. Is the boy in this picture allowing any air to escape from his 
lungs? Has the girl drawn any air into her lungs since she put the tube 
into her mouth? 
and out without knowing it. One way to be sure is to 
hold a straw or a glass tube in the mouth, keeping the 
other end in a glass of water. Look at the boy in 
the picture to see if he is letting any air out. Will 
the water keep rising in the tube unless the girl draws 
air into her lungs? 
Of course it is possible to be foolish about such 
things, to draw the air in so fast or hold it so long 
that it is not good for our lungs. Do you remember 124 
HEALTH FOR EVERY DAY 
HLsop's fable of the frog that puffed himself out until 
he burst? That's only a tale, of course, but we ought 
never to strain any part of our bodies. It would be 
good practice to see how long you can hold your 
breath easily, but never hold it until you get red in 
the face or until it makes you feel uncomfortable. 
Doctors often take our chest measure to see how 
much lung space we have, and whether our lungs are 
Fig. 102. Hold a rubber raincoat be- 
tween yourself and a warm stove or 
radiator. Does heat get through it 
very easily. Why do rubber rain- 
coats make the body feel warmer? 
in good condition. They do it by measuring our chests 
when we have let out all the air that we can, and again 
when we have taken in as much air as we can take in 
comfortably. 
Has the school doctor or the school nurse measured 
your chest expansion? Do you need to increase it? 
If so, remember that good outdoor games, such as ball 
and tennis and swimming, are better for us than any 
indoor exercises, for improving the condition of the 
lungs as well as the muscles. AIR AND HEALTH 
125 
The skin needs fresh air. Another reason why we 
need plenty of fresh, moving air is that too much heat 
and moisture in the air affect the skin and make us 
feel uncomfortable. This is described in Chapter VI, 
but there is one experiment we can do now to show 
that the skin needs fresh air. 
Button a raincoat or rubber cape around one of the 
pupils in your class, as shown in Figure 102. Have him 
stand or sit quietly while the class goes on with its 
regular work, and in a short time (ten minutes or less) 
he will find that he has become quite uncomfortable 
because his body has become very warm and very 
moist or sweaty. Where did the heat come from? 
What makes his skin feel so moist? Why does he feel 
more comfortable when the teacher removes the rain- 
coat, so that the air from the room gets to his body? 
If the body is giving out heat and moisture all the 
time, why didn't he* notice it before putting on the 
raincoat? Why does fanning make us more comfort- 
able? Why do we need to have the air in our houses 
changed? 
There is a stale odor that comes from Soiled or 
sweaty clothing, or from the cooking or washing done 
in the house, which is very unpleasant. That is another 
reason why we need good ventilation in our rooms. 
Ventilating our homes. When we play and work 
outdoors, we never have to think much about the 
kind of air. But indoors, especially in cold weather, 
when we are trying to keep the house warm, we must 
be sure to let in plenty of fresh air. 126 
HEALTH FOR EVERY DAY 
It is best to have the room air changing all the 
time -but not so fast that it makes drafts that will 
chill us. Usually, in our homes, the air that has been 
longest in the room is also the warmest, and since 
warm air is lighter than cold air, we find the warmest 
Fig. 103. Where is the warmed air leaving this wigwam? Where is the 
cold air entering? 
air in the upper part of the room - near the tops of 
the windows and the ceiling. 
If you open one window at the top and another at 
the bottom, where would the warm air go out? Where 
would the cold air come in? To be sure that you an- 
swer these questions correctly, hold a smoking joss 
stick or a lighted candle near each opening to find out 
which way the air is moving. 
In an Indian wigwam the warm air and smoke go AIR AND HEALTH 
127 
out through the opening at the top of the wigwam, 
and the fresh cold air comes in at the doorway or around 
the bottom of the tent. The arrows in Figure 103 
show this. 
Imagine that the lamp chimney shown in Figure 104 
is a glass wigwam. In it place a smoking joss stick to 
help us see which way the air is moving. Is any 
Fig. 104. Why does lifting 
the chimney make the 
joss stick burn better? 
Would a fire burn well 
in a wigwam if the wig- 
wam could be tightly 
closed at the bottom? 
air coming out at the top? Lift the chimney as in 
Figure 104 (5) to let air go in at the bottom as it does in 
the wigwam picture. Do the air and smoke come out 
more rapidly with two openings or with one? 
Are two openings better than one if we want to 
change the air of a room thoroughly and quickly? 
Will you have better air at night if you open two 
windows instead of one? 
Even when we don't open the windows, a little fresh 
air gets in through the cracks around the doors and 128 
HEALTH FOR EVERY DAY 
Fig. 105. Notice where the cold air is coming into the room, while 
the warmed air goes out. How does the fire get enough air to help it 
burn? 
Fig. 106. Look back at Fig. 105. Then look at this figure to see how 
opening the window affects the air changes in the room. AIR AND HEALTH 
129 
windows. We often notice this on cold, windy days. 
Opening the doors as we go in and out also lets in fresh 
outdoor air. 
But too little gets into the room in these ways; so 
we often keep the windows open a little way, and once 
in a while we open them wide to change the air and 
be sure that we have plenty of fresh outdoor air. You 
can prove how much more rapidly opening the windows 
changes the air the next time it is necessary to let smoke 
out of the kitchen. 
We can take cold even in the house, especially in 
winter, if we are in a strong draft. When there is too 
much draft, turn your bed so that the draft doesn't 
blow on your head, or hang a blanket over the head 
of your bed. 
We are not likely to take cold when we sleep out 
in the open air, in a tent or a sleeping porch or under 
a sleeping hood at a window, if we keep well covered. 
We must always have enough bedclothes to keep from 
becoming chilled. 
THINGS TO ASK, ANSWER, TELL, OR DO 
1. How can you prove that the air you breathe out contains 
each of the following: carbon dioxide gas, moisture, and heat? 
2. What is there in the air we breathe in, which is necessary 
to the body? 
3. Which should you do - breathe through the mouth or 
the nose? Why? 
4. Name several exercises which develop the chest muscles. 
5. Why should we have strong breathing muscles? 
6. Name several games which develop deep breathing. 130 
HEALTH FOR EVERY DAY 
What reason is there for wanting fresh air besides needing 
it for breathing? 
8. Tell how you could ventilate this room. 
9. What must we avoid in ventilating, and why? 
10. What care should we take when we sleep out in the open 
air or in tents? CHAPTER VI 
CLOTHING AND THE SKIN 
Animals with warm coats. Did you ever wonder 
why most of the best fur we use for collars, muffs, and 
coats comes from animals that live in parts of the 
world where the winters are very cold? 
Here is a list of some fur-bearing animals. Look in 
your geographies and in the encyclopaedias, and find out 
where each of these animals lives. Do they all live in 
cold regions? 
Wolf 
Fox 
Marten 
Lynx 
Skunk 
Seal 
Squirrel 
Ermine 
Beaver 
Muskrat 
How many of them spend much of the time in the 
water? When dogs with coarse, wiry hair swim, they 
get "wet to the skin," but animals with thick, close 
fur do not get wet in that way. Their fur is very 
thick and close, and the water doesn't get through 
the close fine hairs to the skin. Does the hair of col- 
lies, setters, and water spaniels keep their skins dry? 
Does the skin of a goose or duck get wet? Go to 
a farm where there are ducks or geese, or have some 
one bring a pet one to school. Let it swim for a 
while in a big pan or tub of water, and then pick it 
131 132 
HEALTH FOR EVERY DAY 
up gently and stand it on a table or a desk. It will 
probably shake itself a little and then its body will look 
perfectly dry, for the oil in its feathers keeps the water 
from sticking to them. Why do people use the ex- 
pression "like water off a duck's back"? Press its 
Fig. 107. The American bison once roamed the western plains in count- 
less thousands, but the furry coats were in such demand for making 
"buffalo robes and coats" that only a few small herds are now living wild 
outside of our National Parks. The picture was taken in the Wichita 
Game Preserve, Oklahoma. (Courtesy of United States Biological Survey) 
breast feathers apart gently and notice that its skin 
is perfectly dry and warm. Why does the duck feel 
warm even when it has been in cold water? Why do 
so many water animals have close, tight fur? Does 
your head feel colder when your scalp is dry or when CLOTHING AND THE SKIN 
133 
it is wet after washing your hair? Why should pet 
dogs be rubbed very dry after washing them? 
Air spaces and warmth. Most animals have thicker 
or longer fur in winter than in summer. Fur and 
feathers keep animals warm because there are little 
Fig. 108. Downy feathers like the bottom ones are best for holding in 
the heat. (Photograph by Edith Ricker) J y 
layers of air between all the hairs and feathers which 
help keep the heat in. 
When it is very cold you may notice that the hair 
on horses stands out more than usual. That makes 
room for more air close to the skin, and the horse 
is kept warmer than if the hair were lying down flat. 
Boys who go bareheaded in winter time know that 
their heads feel warmer if the hair lies loose instead 
of being brushed down flat. Watch the sparrows on 
a cold day and see how they fluff out their feathers 134 
HEALTH FOR EVERY DAY 
to keep themselves warm. Watch a pet canary or a 
chicken when it goes to sleep; is there any change in 
the feathers that would help keep it warm during the 
cool night, when it is not exercising? 
Have you ever heard of the Indian hunter who made 
mittens with the fur inside? 
He killed the noble Mudjokivis. 
Of the skin he made him mittens, 
Made them with the fur side inside, 
Made them with the skin side outside. 
He, to get the warm side inside, 
Put the inside skin side outside; 
He, to get the cold side outside, 
Put the warm side fur side inside. 
That's why he put the fur side inside, 
Why he put the skin side outside, 
Why he turned them inside outside. 
(Author Unknown.) 
Even if you put the fur side outside, fur mittens 
would be warm. Why did the hunter put the fur side 
inside? Which way would more warm air stay in 
between the hairs? 
Why do people feel warmer with loosely woven or 
knitted sweaters, underclothes, or socks than with 
tightly woven or knitted ones? 
Did you ever try to keep yourself warmer by put- 
ting a newspaper under your coat on a cold windy 
day? If you find that the coats or wraps you have 
with you are not warm enough, put a piece of news- 
paper across your back, under your coat or waist, and CLOTHING AND THE SKIN 
135 
another piece across your chest in the same way. The 
paper helps to hold in the layer of air already warmed 
by your body, and so keeps you warm. 
If at any time you need more bedclothing, remem- 
ber that newspapers between the blankets will help 
keep you warm. A layer of newspapers under the 
Fig. 109. Which shows the higher temperature, a thermometer lying 
on your arm, or one which is put under a tight sleeve or a piece of cloth 
wrapped around your arm? Why does this prove that clothing keeps the 
body from losing heat as rapidly as it would otherwise? 
mattress will help too, especially when the mattress is 
a thin one. 
Let us see if our clothing really holds heat in. Put 
a thermometer on your arm, as shown in Figure 109, 
and after five minutes read the thermometer. Then 
slide it up under your sleeve, or under a bandage, and 
leave it there for five minutes more before you read 
it. How much warmer is the thermometer when 
covered? 
Choosing clothing. What kind of clothing holds in 
the heat best - silk, or wool, or cotton? Get three 136 
HEALTH FOR EVERY DAY 
small pieces of goods - silk, cotton, and wool - of 
the same weight or thickness, and lay them on a very 
warm surface, such as the bottom of a flatiron or the 
top of a radiator. Then put a finger on each piece, 
as shown in the picture, and see which kind of material 
lets most heat pass through it. Which material would 
keep in most of your body heat? Which would be 
best to wear in cold weather? Do woolen gloves keep 
your hands warmer than cotton or silk ones? 
Fig. no. Which material lets the heat from the iron pass through most 
quickly? 
People used to wear much heavier, thicker under- 
wear for winter than they do now. One reason was 
because buildings were not so well heated as they are 
nowadays. 
Many people now wear thin summer underclothes 
in cold weather, and when a very cold day comes they 
put on an extra suit of thin underwear, because two 
thin suits are warmer than one thick one. Why is this 
true? Try the same kind of experiment as the last one 
to find out. Use one thick piece and two thin pieces CLOTHING AND THE SKIN 
137 
of woolen cloth to see which lets through more of the 
heat of the flatiron or radiator. 
In summer time we do not want to hold the heat in, 
and so we wear fewer layers of clothing than in cold 
weather. If our dresses or shirts have low necks or 
Fig. hi. The baby bison or "buffalo" has on his first coat, but the 
mother buffalo is shedding her heavy winter coat for a lighter summer 
one. {Photograph by Sanborn; courtesy of New York Zoological Society} 
short sleeves, the warm air around our body can get out 
better. 
Clothing should suit the weather. Most birds and 
fur-bearing animals have two coats a year - a heavy 
one for winter and a lighter one for summer. Human 
beings have to make more changes than this. 
People used to think that we must wear the same 
kind of clothes every day, as long as winter lasted. 138 
HEALTH FOR EVERY DAY 
Now we know that we shall not take cold so easily if 
we put on extra clothes in the very cold weather, or 
change to lighter clothing on warmer days. But even 
in very warm weather we should not leave our outer 
clothing off so long that we begin to feel chilly, and 
extra clothing should be added to suit the cooler days 
that often come in summer or in warm climates. 
Do you usually need more clothing at noontime or 
late at night? Early in the morning or at noon? 
Clothing and exercise. Why do runners and basket- 
ball or football players put on a sweater or a blanket 
when they finish running or playing? 
Which way does the body lose its heat more quickly, 
- through a layer of dry cloth or through a wet cloth? 
Wet your hand and lay it on the sleeve of your cotton 
waist or shirt. Where does your skin feel cooler - 
under the wet part or the dry part of your sleeve? 
If you keep on playing or exercising after your feet 
or clothing become wet are you likely to take cold? 
What should you do as soon as you stop exercising? 
Why do many people think that it is not safe to play 
or work outdoors in the snow or rain? 
Getting wet gives us a cold when the body stays 
chilled too long. Why should we change our wet 
clothes as soon as possible? If you are caught in a 
rain storm, keep exercising until you can get a hot 
drink, a warm bath, and dry clothes. Many people 
can tramp for hours with wet feet, because walking 
can keep even wet feet warm, except in very cold 
weather. Why do people often take cold if they sit CLOTHING AND THE SKIN 
139 
or drive with wet feet? If a boy falls into the water, 
why might it be better for him to walk than to ride 
or be carried home? 
Woolen and cotton clothing. Many children do not 
like woolen underwear. It scratches them and makes 
them feel uncomfortable. Why is it, then, that people 
think woolen underwear is best for cold weather? Can 
you give two reasons? 
We have just learned one reason in the experiment 
with cloth on warm iron. Another reason is because 
Fig. 112. Lay a wet cotton cloth on one arm and a wet woolen one on 
the other. Which make the skin feel cooler? 
wool threads take care of the body moisture in a 
better way. Here is an experiment (Figure 112) to 
show that this is true. 
Which material, cotton or wool, gives up water 
more rapidly? Which is less likely to make our skin 
feel chilly? When people are climbing or tramping, 
will woolen or cotton shirts be more likely to take 
care of the perspiration so as to keep them from be- 
coming chilled? Which will let out the body heat 
more slowly and keep them from becoming chilled? 
The air spaces in woolen goods. The air spaces help 
keep heat from getting through cloth of any kind. 
There are more tiny air spaces in wool than in cotton, 
because the wool threads are rougher and do not lie so 140 
HEALTH FOR EVERY DAY 
close together; this makes many little air spaces in 
woolen clothes. 
Some kinds of clothing have large air spaces too. 
Knitted mittens and sweaters made of wool have many 
large air spaces, as well as many tiny air spaces. 
Have you ever wondered why loosely knit gloves and 
sweaters make you so much warmer than tight ma- 
terials like kid gloves? It is because of the many air 
Fig. i 13. Notice how many air spaces there are in this piece of wool 
sweater. Why does a sweater under a coat keep us very warm? 
(Photograph by Ellen B. McGowan) 
spaces. Prove this for yourself by the next experiment. 
Take a piece of loose woolen cloth and rest one 
finger lightly against it as it lies on a very warm flat- 
iron or radiator. Then press on it firmly with another 
finger until you have pressed all the fibers close to- 
gether and pushed out most of the air. Which time 
did the cloth keep most of the heat of the iron or 
radiator from passing through? Why? CLOTHING AND THE SKIN 
141 
Drafts and colds. Sitting in a draft sometimes chills 
only one part of the body - such as the back, the 
shoulders, or the neck; and the next day that part 
may feel stiff or sore. If you ever have to sit in a 
draft, turn so as to face it, for then you are less likely 
to take cold. 
You can usually avoid becoming overchilled by ex- 
ercising (swinging your arms, slapping your chest, etc.), 
Fig. i 14. Which finger is pressing more heavily on the piece of woolen 
cloth? What does the pressure of the finger do to the air spaces in the 
cloth? Which finger gets more heat from the iron? 
by putting on more clothes, or by drinking something 
warm - warm milk or cocoa or even plain hot water. 
What would be the best drink to carry in your can- 
teen or in a thermos bottle when you are "hiking" 
on chilly days? 
The skin regulates heat. Our skin helps to regulate 
the heat of our body. If we are very warm, more 
blood comes to the skin so as to get rid of some of its 
heat. You surely have noticed how red our faces and 
necks become when we are too warm. That part of 
the body isn't covered with clothing, and therefore 142 
HEALTH FOR EVERY DAY 
the skin there can get rid of more heat than on other 
parts of the body. 
When our skin is moist, the water on it changes to 
water vapor. It takes heat to change water to vapor, 
and that loss of heat cools the body. All of our skin is 
constantly being cooled a little by the water it evapo- 
rates. Did you ever notice how easily you become 
chilled when your skin is wet with perspiration? 
Fig. 115. Hold a small glass on your cheek and then on your palm to 
see whether there is any difference in the amount of moisture given out 
by the skin. 
Even when you do not see any perspiration, the 
skin is giving out water gradually, and so keeping you 
from becoming overheated as you work and play. 
You can prove that your skin is giving out water, 
even when you do not notice it, by holding a small 
glass close to your skin, as shown in this picture. The 
palm of the hand is a good place for this experiment, 
because that part of the body perspires very freely. 
In a few minutes you will find that the glass becomes CLOTHING AND THE SKIN 
143 
quite moist on the inside. Where does this water 
come from? 
The faster the water evaporates from our skin, the 
cooler it makes us. Give one reason why fanning 
makes us feel so much cooler. Why does driving in a 
motor car make us cooler as in warm weather? 
Some animals sweat just as we do. Does the horse? 
the cow? the dog? 
Does the dog have any way of evaporating water to 
help cool his body? What happens to his wet tongue 
when he holds his mouth open, panting for breath? 
Touch the nose of a dog or cat which is in good health. 
Is it dry or moist? Why does it feel cold to us? 
Some liquids evaporate more quickly than water. 
Is alcohol one of them? Put a drop of alcohol and a 
drop of water on your hand or on a clean dish and see 
which evaporates first. 
Which cools your skin more? Wet one finger with 
alcohol and another with water. Then hold them up 
in the air. Which feels cooler? Why? Would alco- 
hol or water be better to cool your head if you had 
a headache or a fever? Why are sick people often 
rubbed with alcohol? 
Importance of the skin and clothing. Many people 
think the skin is important because through it we learn 
a great deal about the world we live in, by feeling or the 
sense of touch. But in this chapter we have seen that 
the skin is very important for another reason: it helps 
regulate the heat of the body. Clothing is also impor- 
tant because it may help or hinder the skin in this work. 144 
HEALTH FOR EVERY DAY 
THINGS TO ASK, ANSWER, TELL, OR DO 
1. What is the secret of keeping the body warm? 
2. Are tightly woven underclothes or loosely woven ones 
warmer? 
3. Why will paper placed between your garments or bed- 
clothes help to keep you warm? 
4. Which will keep the body warmest, cotton, silk, or wool? 
5. Do you think two thin suits of underclothing are warmer 
than one thick one? Why? 
6. What changes in clothing may be made to suit the 
weather? 
7. How can you avoid taking cold after getting your clothes 
or feet wet? 
8. Give two reasons why woolen cloth is warmer than other 
cloth. 
9. Make up other questions on this chapter and see whether 
you can answer them without looking at your book. Then 
ask some one else your questions. Fig. ii6. These little folks are learning early that keeping clean is one 
sure road to health. 
CHAPTER VII 
KEEPING CLEAN 
Once upon a time there was a little chimney sweep, 
and his name was Tom. If you do not know about 
Tom, the chimney sweep, get Charles Kingsley's 
Water Babies; there you will read about a poor little 
dirty boy who did not know he was dirty, and about 
his master, who liked to be dirty, and said he would be 
ashamed to be so dirty that he needed washing every 
week or so! 
There, too, you will learn about the woman who kept 
Tom's master from beating him just because Tom 
wanted to wash in the clear, cool water. "Those that 
145 146 
HEALTH FOR EVERY DAY 
wish to be clean, clean they will be," she said, just as 
if she knew that Tom was going to turn into a water 
baby and live in the water, and never have to climb 
another chimney, scraping his knees and elbows raw 
and filling his eyes with soot. 
Once, when cleaning the chimneys in a large country 
house, Tom came down the wrong chimney, and out 
into a room where he saw a washing-stand, with ewers, 
and basins, and soap, and brushes, and towels, and a 
large bath full of clean water - what a heap of things 
all for washing! "She must be a very dirty lady," 
thought Tom, "by my master's rule, to want as much 
scrubbing as all that. But she must be very cunning 
to put the dirt out of the way so well afterward, for 
I don't see a speck about the room, not even on the 
very towels." 
And then, looking toward the bed, he saw that 
dirty lady, and held his breath with astonishment. 
Under the snow-white coverlet, upon the snow-white 
pillow, lay the most beautiful little girl that Tom had 
ever seen. 
"No. She cannot be dirty. She never could have 
been dirty," thought Tom to himself. And then he 
thought, "Are all people like that when they are 
washed?" And he looked at his own wrist, and tried 
to rub the soot off, and wondered whether it ever would 
come off. 
Looking round, he suddenly saw, standing close to 
him, a little ugly, black, ragged figure. He turned on 
it angrily. What did such a little black ape want in KEEPING CLEAN 
147 
that sweet young lady's room? And behold, it was 
himself, reflected in a great mirror the like of which 
Tom had never seen before. 
And then Tom, for the first time in his life, found 
out that he was dirty; he burst into tears with shame 
and anger, and turned to sneak up the chimney again 
and hide; he upset the fender and threw the fire irons 
down, with a noise as of ten thousand tin kettles tied 
to ten thousand mad dogs' tails. 
Up jumped the little white lady in her bed, and, 
seeing Tom, screamed with fright; and when the 
people in the house saw Tom running, they ran after 
him. And poor little Tom, like a small black gorilla, 
ran and ran until he found a brook which sang as it 
ran along: 
Clear and cool, clear and cool, 
By laughing shallow, and dreaming pool; 
Cool and clear, cool and clear, 
By shining shingle, and foaming wear; 
Play by me, bathe in me, mother and child. 
Strong and free, strong and free, 
The flood-gates are open, away to the sea, 
Free and strong, free and strong, 
Cleansing my streams as I hurry along, 
Play by me, bathe in me, mother and child. 
Tom put his hand into the water, and it was so cool, 
cool, cool, that he said, "I will swim in the water. 148 
HEALTH FOR EVERY DAY 
I must be clean. I must be clean." And he had not 
been in the water two minutes before he fell fast 
asleep; and before he knew what was happening to 
him, the fairies turned him into a water baby and he 
swam away where there were no hard masters. And 
all the things that happened to Tom and the other 
water babies you must read for yourself in Kingsley's 
book, because now we are going to find out more about 
bathing. 
Why the skin needs washing. Our skin may be 
dirty even when it looks clean, because the fine dust 
in the air settles on it. Here is an experiment to show 
that dust settles out of the air. 
Take a piece of clean glass and rub some salad oil 
or vaseline over one side of it, so that any dirt that 
settles there will stick fast. Leave it - the oily side 
up - on a desk or table until the next lesson, and then 
hold it to the light to see if it still looks clean. 
Our skin is a little moist and oily, too; so dust 
sticks to it, though not quite so well as to the oily 
glass. People often wonder how their faces get so 
dirty. Does the experiment with the oily glass help 
you to explain this? In places where there are many 
factories or mines, the air may have a great deal of 
smoke and soot as well as other kinds of dirty dust 
in it. Since the skin is oily, warm water and soap are 
necessary to get the dirt off. In hot weather, when we 
sometimes spend much time swimming, soap and warm 
water are not needed more than once a day, except 
on the face and hands. KEEPING CLEAN 
149 
People who have to keep their hands in soapy water 
a great deal of the time may wash off so much of the 
oil that the skin becomes dry and hard. Then it is 
likely to crack and split, and it may become sore if 
bacteria or germs get into these cracks. 
If your skin becomes dry or rough, rub on a little 
cold cream or vaseline to keep it soft, so that it will 
not crack. 
Sweat or perspiration. Our skin gives out sweat or 
perspiration. Most of the sweat is water, but there 
are other things in it; one of these is salt. If you touch 
the tip of your tongue to your sweaty skin, you can 
usually taste the salt. 
There are many thousands of little openings in our 
skin which let out the perspiration. We perspire all 
the time, even in cold weather. Even when there is 
not enough perspiration to show on our skin, we are 
giving out over a pint of water every day. Turn back 
to Chapter VI and see whether you can find the 
experiment which proves that the skin is constantly 
giving out water. 
By this time you must have found several reasons 
why we bathe. There is no better way of getting rid 
of the grime and perspiration. 
There is another very good reason why we should 
bathe the whole body quite often. The skin is always 
wearing off; it wears off in little scales or flakes all 
over the body. These scales are so small that you 
may not have noticed them. Sometimes they stick 
together and make pieces large enough to be seen. 150 
HEALTH FOR EVERY DAY 
On such places as the elbows and knees you can some- 
times scrape off some of the dried skin scales, which 
are usually removed by bathing. 
Bathing and rubbing help the blood circulate. Rub 
your arm until it is red. What makes it look red? 
Will the skin on your arm have more or less blood 
circulating or moving through it after a brisk rubbing 
like that? 
Why does rubbing or massaging the scalp help the 
hair? Will brushing help make the hair grow? Do you 
brush so as to make the bristles rub the scalp? Do 
that gently each time as you draw the brush down 
over your hair. 
If it isn't possible to take a bath with water every 
day, try a towel bath. To do this, rub the whole body 
briskly with a coarse towel. That will rub off the old 
skin scales and take off much of the perspiration and 
dirt on the surface of the body at the same time. 
You can get quite a fine glow from a towel bath; 
but most people prefer to bathe in water because they 
think water baths are more restful. 
Bathing and clothing. Most people don't stop to 
think that keeping the body clean makes our clothes 
stay clean longer. Bathing leaves less oily dirt to rub 
off on our clothing, especially on our collars and 
cuffs. 
A warm bath at night washes off the "soil and 
grime of the day," and it also helps keep the bed- 
clothes clean. Washing clothing is about the hardest 
work done in the home; the best way to make the KEEPING CLEAN 
151 
washing easier for your mother is to take a good bath 
every day. Besides, nice clean sheets make the bed 
feel more restful. 
Have you noticed how uncomfortable the foot parts 
of your stockings feel when you have worn them 
several days? If you cannot have fresh stockings at 
least every other day, why not wash your stockings 
yourself every night when you bathe before going to 
bed? This would keep your feet warmer in cold weather, 
besides making your stockings wear better. Soldiers 
on the march wash their socks every day, and boys 
and girls of your age could do the same thing. 
We like to swim or bathe in cool water, because the 
cool water takes some of the heat from our bodies. 
We should be careful, however, that we do not cool 
the body too much. Stop before you begin to feel 
chilled. When you get out of the water, rub your 
skin briskly until it is dry. If you feel chilly, exer- 
cise by slapping the skin and running or jumping until 
you are in a fine glow. Daily bathing in cool water 
keeps the skin in good condition and helps prevent 
colds. 
Ways of bathing. Swimming is one of the best ways 
of taking a bath. If you live where the outdoor water 
is clean enough for bathing, take a good many of your 
baths that way, when the weather is favorable, because 
then you get exercise at the same time. 
Knowing how to swim may also be very useful in 
saving yourself or other people from drowning. Watch 
the newspapers and report to your teacher when you 152 
HEALTH FOR EVERY DAY 
find a case where knowing how to swim helped some 
one to save the life of another person. 
People bathe in several different ways; some prefer a 
basin, some a bathtub, and many people now think a 
shower is the very best kind of bath to take. 
People can keep clean even if they have nothing but 
a tin basin for washing. What was it the Irishwoman 
said to Tom? "Those who wish to be clean, clean they 
Fig. i i 7. If you haven't 
a fine spray nozzle for 
the garden hose, you 
can make as fine a 
spray as you want by 
holding your thumb 
over the end. 
will be." If your house hasn't a bathroom with a bath- 
tub, there are several ways of arranging for a shower 
bath. 
In Figure 118 the children are having a shower from 
a street hydrant, but a garden hose could be used. 
If you haven't a spray nozzle, pinch the end of the 
hose nearly shut, so as to make a fine spray. 
The dooryard above has been covered with stones to 
make a good bathing place. Perhaps you would rather 
use a nice grassy place, or put some boards down to KEEPING CLEAN 
153 
Fig. 118. This street shower is made by attaching an iron pipe to a fire 
plug or hydrant. A fine sprinkler or spray nozzle on the other end makes 
a huge shower, ten to twenty feet wide. 
make a loose floor to keep your feet clean until you can 
get your shoes on. . 
Cold water doesn't take off very much of the dirt. 
The rubbing afterwards has to do most of that, if you 
use cold water. That soils the towels very quickly. 154 
HEALTH FOR EVERY DAY 
A better way is to have a basin of warm, soapy water, 
rub yourselves with that, then have a short, quick 
shower with the hose or spray. 
Fig. i 19. This is a home-made shower, made from a tin pail. Why is 
it better to have many little holes instead of a few large ones? 
Once a boy attached a bathroqm hose or sprinkler 
to the warm water faucet in the kitchen and ran it 
out of the window to make a shower bath in the back 
yard. At several of the army camps, the men made KEEPING CLEAN 
155 
shower baths by boring holes in barrels which were 
placed above their heads. A big pail could be used 
the same way. One family uses a big sprinkling can, 
which is filled and put on the stove until the water 
is a little warm; then the mother gives each of the 
children a shower bath as he stands in a tub. 
How to wash the hands. Select four boys who have 
clean hands, and ask them to make their hands very 
dirty by playing with a dirty ball or by rubbing a 
Fig. 120. Which way of washing will give the cleanest hands? Try it 
and see whether you guessed right. 
little soot or lampblack on them, until the hands of 
the four boys look equally dirty. 
Then have these four boys wash their hands in four 
different ways. Have four basins like those in Figure 120 
ready for them, so they can start at the same minute. 
At the end of three minutes, have the boys hold up 
their hands, - first with the palms and then with the 
backs toward you. Which boy has the cleanest hands? 156 
HEALTH FOR EVERY DAY 
Have four other pupils do the same set of experi- 
ments. What is the best way to wash dirty hands? 
The use of the nailbrush. Select two children and 
have them make their hands equally dirty, as in the 
hand-washing experiment just described. 
1. Give each child a quart of warm water, a piece of 
soap, and a brush. 
2. Have each one wash his hands as well as he can 
with soap and water, using the brush on one hand but 
not on the other. 
3. Look at their hands - palms and backs - to see 
if both hands of each child are clean. Is there any 
Fig. i2i. A little moist cotton wound around the tip of a nail stick will 
help in cleaning the nails. The skin around the nails is less likely to be 
injured when cotton is used around the tip of the stick. 
difference? Are the nails of both hands clean? How 
does the brush help? 
The use of the nail file. Have two children wash 
their hands thoroughly in warm water, using both 
brush and soap. 
1. Give each child a clean nail file, and let him clean 
the nails of one hand only. 
2. An hour later have each child use the file on the 
other hand. 
Which nails are the cleaner? When is the best time 
to use the nail stick or nail file? 
Can you whittle a good nail stick for yourself? Fig. 122. Children like to go wading so much that busy mothers might save time by letting them paddle 
every night in a tub with a little water in it, and so wash their feet. Wading is such good fun and such 
healthful exercise that every town should have a clean, safe wading pool for little children. (Courtesy of 
Henry Street Settlement) 
157 158 
HEALTH FOR EVERY DAY 
Make one end round for the skin around the nails, 
and the other end pointed for the tips of the nails, 
as shown in Figure 121. 
Care of the hair. Besides brushing the hair daily 
to keep it soft and glossy, we should wash it fre- 
quently. Most persons find that every two or three 
weeks is often enough, unless they are riding on trains 
or doing very dusty work. In washing the hair, use 
Fig. 123. Any boy who knows how to use a penknife can whittle a nail 
stick for himself. 
pure white soap, or white flakes dissolved in hot water, 
to make a good lather. After washing the hair and 
scalp in warm water changed several times until the 
last water remains quite clear, rinse in lukewarm or 
cold water, as you prefer. Be sure to wash out all 
the soap. Then rub the hair very dry with clean 
towels. Sunshine, or heat from a stove or radiator, 
will hasten the drying and lessen the possibility of 
taking cold. KEEPING CLEAN 
159 
Individual articles for bathing. Each child should 
have his own washcloths and towels, and plenty of 
space to hang them out to dry. If you cannot have 
fresh ones each time, be sure you wash out the used 
ones and spread them out to dry, so that they are not 
wet and sour when you want to use them next time. 
It isn't pleasant to think of using washcloths that are 
really dirtier than your skin. 
Make some washcloths for yourselves - boys as 
well as girls - at home or school, and mark them with 
your initials. No home ever has too many washcloths. 
It is easier to get them clean again if they are not used 
too long. Partly worn towels and tablecloths can be 
cut up into nice soft washcloths. Outing flannel 
also makes good washcloths, and many people like 
cheesecloth ones, especially if they are large enough 
to use doubled. 
THINGS TO ASK, ANSWER, TELL, OR DO 
1. What made Tom, the chimney sweep, know at last that 
he was dirty? 
2. Is our skin always clean when it looks clean? Why? 
3. Why do warm water and soap make us cleaner than just 
cold water? 
4. What other reasons for bathing are there besides that of 
keeping clean? 
5. Of what use are towels except to dry us off? 
6. How often should we bathe? Why? 
7. Tell why you agree, or do not agree, with people who say 
that we should always bathe in cold water. 
8. Name four ways in which bathing has something to do 
with clothing. 160 
HEALTH FOR EVERY DAY 
9. Why is swimming such a good way of taking a bath? 
10. In the summer, will swimming alone keep us clean? 
11. What ways are there of taking baths besides swimming 
and using a bathtub? 
12. What does this book tell you to do if your skin becomes 
dry or rough? 
13. How many towels and washcloths does a family need 
for use at one time? 
14. How can washcloths be kept from getting "sour"? CHAPTER VIII 
ENEMIES TOO SMALL TO SEE 
Here is a photograph of a box of garden soil which 
was kept in a sunny window for two weeks. A little 
water was sprinkled over it whenever the soil began 
to dry out. 
Where did all these plants come from? Most of 
them are what people call weeds, but some of them 
may be useful plants, like radishes, tomatoes, or grass. 
Fig. 124. Read this page to find out why these plants appeared in this 
box of garden soil. 
The little seeds that made these plants were so small 
that they were not noticed when the soil was put into 
the box. 
Why foods spoil. There are other little plants that, 
like weeds, grow where they are not wanted. Some 
grow in milk; some of them grow in water; others live 
in a great many different kinds of food. Sometimes they 
161 162 
HEALTH FOR EVERY DAY 
grow so fast that, before we have guessed they are 
there at all, they have spoiled the food. Then it has 
a different look, or smell, or taste, and you say that 
the milk is sour, or that the bread is moldy, or that the 
canned peaches are spoiled. Some of these tiny little 
plants are called germs or bacteria; others are called 
molds. They haven't any leaves or flowers at all, like 
most plants, yet they are really plants. 
Bacteria in the mouth. Some of these little plants 
grow in other places where they find enough food, 
especially if the places are warm. Several kinds of 
Fig. 125. Some of the bacteria 
often found in the mouth are 
shown here. The three large 
bodies are small pieces from the 
inside of the cheek or throat. 
Cleaning the teeth or rinsing the 
mouth with water washes out 
some of the bacteria and the 
things they might use for growth. 
bacteria grow in your mouth, between your teeth or 
along the gums. Some of these are "bad" plants, like 
the weeds that came up in the box of garden soil; 
some of them aren't "bad" at all. 
We do not like to think that these little plants or 
germs are growing in our mouths, and so we clean 
our teeth to take away the little pieces of food that 
help them to grow. They grow very fast; one little 
plant can make millions of new ones in a single day. ENEMIES TOO SMALL TO SEE 
163 
And so we clean our teeth several times a day, rinsing 
our mouths well with clean water, to keep most of 
these plants or germs from finding food to grow on. 
Dentists agree that the teeth should be cleaned after 
each meal and before going to bed, as well as on rising 
in the morning. 
When you put your fingers into your mouth they 
get wet with saliva. You will see on page 162 a drop of 
saliva which was put upon a piece of glass and looked 
at through the magnifying glasses in a microscope. 
The drop of saliva was full of little bits of food ma- 
terial and many germs - long ones and round ones, 
like the bacteria in the picture. 
Keeping bacteria out of the mouth. What would 
happen if, when your fingers were wet with saliva, 
you put them into the baby's mouth to count his 
teeth? Giving him some of your germs might not 
make him sick, but we never know when we may have 
the wrong kind of germs on our fingers. We didn't 
know there were weed seeds in the garden soil either, 
did we? 
We should be careful to touch the food or anything 
else that goes into our own mouths or into the mouths 
of other people with clean hands only, never with dirty 
ones. 
Wash your hands - even though they look clean - 
just before you eat, before you wipe the dishes, set 
the table, or cut bread or cake. In picking up cups 
or glasses, do not touch the rims that other people 
are going to put to their lips. People do not like to 164 
HEALTH FOR EVERY DAY 
think that they are swallowing germs left by your 
fingers. Handle food with a fork or spoon whenever 
you can. If you must use your fingers, be sure they 
are dry and clean: be sure, too, that you have washed 
them since you touched your nose or mouth, or such 
things as soiled handkerchiefs. 
Spreading nose and throat germs. But you are 
probably wondering what is the use of being so careful 
about your fingers and mouth, when there are also 
germs in water and milk, and even in the air. This is 
true, but very few "bad germs'' get into the air, milk, 
Fig. 126. Show how you would carry a clean glass. 
and water, except from people and such common ani- 
mals as cats, dogs, and cows. Germs do not live very 
long in the air; they cannot grow there, and they die 
off very soon, unless they happen to float or fall where 
they find food for growth. When people sneeze or 
cough or spit, some of the germs from the mouth may 
float toward people near by. When some one care- 
lessly coughs into your face, you may breathe in some 
of his live germs before they have time to die off. If ENEMIES TOO SMALL TO SEE 
165 
Fig. 137. When you feel a sneeze coming, get a handkerchief ready and 
" catch " it quickly. (Photograph by Edith Ricker) 
any of these happen to be the kind that make people 
sick, you may catch a sore throat or a cold. 
Cover your mouth and nose when you cough or 
sneeze; keep in your pocket the handkerchief that 
you have used, and change it for a fresh one whenever 
it becomes soiled. Fold your handkerchief with the used 
side in, so as to keep from soiling your fingers and the 
inside of your pocket. When you have a cold, try to get 
some old pieces of soft muslin or paper napkins to use, 
so that you can burn them after they have been used. 166 
HEALTH FOR EVERY DAY 
Some of our sicknesses we can give to other people, 
and some we cannot. Can you "catch" a broken leg 
or a headache? Can you " catch " measles or whooping 
cough? a cold or a sore throat? 
We should be careful not to do things which may 
spread the germs of disease. When we are beginning 
with such diseases as measles, diphtheria and scarlet 
fever, the germs may be present in the throat several 
days before we become ill. Why should strangers not 
kiss little children, who are so easily affected by germ 
diseases? Why should even well people be careful 
Fig. 128. After the water Degins to 
boil, leave the jar of soil for at least 
thirty minutes, to kill most of the 
weed seeds. 
when they cough or sneeze? What should be done 
with the dishes and forks and spoons that sick people 
have used? Read the next three paragraphs to see 
why we use the way given in Figure 129. 
How to kill germs. How can we kill the "bad" 
germs? How can we kill weed seeds in the garden 
soil? Fill a fruit jar or a tin can of garden soil, such as 
we used before, and heat it in a pan or pail of boiling 
water, just as some people do when canning fruit. The 
picture shows how to do this. 
After cooling the heated soil, put it in a box in the ENEMIES TOO SMALL TO SEE 
167 
window; keep it moist, just as we did the other box 
of soil, and see whether weeds will grow. What did 
the heat do to the seeds in the soil? 
How can we make our dishes and table things hot 
enough to kill germs that sick people may leave on 
them? We don't want to bake our dishes, but we can 
steam them or boil them in water. That will not hurt 
the dishes and spoons and forks, but it will kill the 
disease germs. 
Sometimes in illness the doctors order us to use chem- 
icals to kill the germs which may be present on hand- 
Fig. 129. If the water doesn't cover 
the dishes, turn them over, so that 
every part of each dish is in boiling 
water for five minutes. Then you 
will surely kill all the germs that sick 
people may leave on the dishes they 
use. 
kerchiefs or clothing. We often use such chemicals as 
alcohol or iodine, to treat cuts or other wounds. Other 
chemicals are useful in treating the nose and throat. 
Table salt and baking soda dissolved in water are often 
used as a gargle for sore throats. In your home, what 
other chemicals have you found useful for killing germs? 
What useful chemicals are mentioned in Chapter I? 
When we are sick we should ask the nurse or the 168 
HEALTH FOR EVERY DAY 
doctor whether anything needs to be done to keep the 
rest of the family from catching our illness. It is a 
great bother to boil dishes, towels, and handkerchiefs, 
and to use chemicals for killing germs, but keeping the 
rest of the family well is worth all that trouble. 
How good manners protect against germs. People 
who are polite and thoughtful follow certain rules of 
good manners to keep germs from the food of other 
people or from places where they will get into their 
mouths. Some of these rules are given below. 
1. Never handle cakes, rolls, etc., in bakeshops. 
2. When fruit or bread is passed to you, touch only 
the piece you take from the plate. (Never break a piece 
and then return a part you have touched.) 
3. Take hold of spoons, forks, and knives by the 
handles when passing them to people or setting the 
table. 
4. Do not cough or sneeze without covering your 
mouth and nose. 
5. Keep used handkerchiefs in your pocket. 
6. Do not wave used handkerchiefs around in the air. 
7. Do not touch the rims and insides of cups, glasses, 
and other dishes that hold food. 
8. Never put a spoon or any table tool which has 
been in your mouth into food to be eaten by others. 
A great many other rules and customs that we call 
good manners help us keep from giving our germs to 
other people. Why do we cover the mouth when we 
cough? If the milk or cream pitcher drips at the 
spout, why should we not wipe off the drops with our ENEMIES TOO SMALL TO SEE 
169 
napkin or our fingers? Is it good manners to touch 
other pieces of candy in the box before taking the one 
you are to eat? How many other rules of good man- 
ners can you name? 
Keeping germs from baby's mouth. When you are 
taking care of a baby that has learned to crawl or walk 
around, one of the hardest things to do is to keep him 
from putting the wrong things into his mouth. 
Fig. 130. Do you keep the flies inside or outside the screens of your house? 
When a baby's teeth are coming through, the gums 
are very tender or sore, and he likes something to rub 
against the gums. We can tie a clean rubber ring to a 
ribbon around the baby's neck so that he will chew 
that instead of his shoe or some other dirty thing. 
Teething rings should be washed in hot water with any 
white or castile soap, several times a day. 
Watch a baby for just one day and see how many 
things he tries to put into his mouth. How many of 170 
HEALTH FOR EVERY DAY 
these had been on the dirty floor or ground? How 
many had been handled by people with soiled hands? 
It takes a long time to teach a baby that only 
certain things should go into his mouth. Some people 
never learn it, and they hold all kinds of things in 
the mouth - money, string, hairpins, pencils, and 
many kinds of tools - just as if the mouth were 
Fig. 131. Which of these six things are not mentioned on this page? 
another hand. This picture shows the only things 
that should go into the mouth. There are six - 
food and another one beginning with /; one begins 
with s, and on the shelf above are the other three. 
Are fingers in this picture? If a bone or a bristle 
from a toothbrush gets caught in the mouth, or be- ENEMIES TOO SMALL TO SEE 
171 
tween the teeth, you may have to use your fingers, 
but be sure that they are clean. 
How to turn pages. Many people are careless about 
putting saliva on things other people have to handle. 
Such careless people often wet the thumb or finger to 
help them turn the pages of a magazine or a book. 
Fig. 132. Practice with an old magazine until you are sure you can turn 
pages more rapidly with a pencil eraser than without it. 
Conductors often do the same thing with their little 
book or bundle of transfers. 
Keep a rubber eraser, or a pencil with an eraser on 
one end, in your pocket; then you can use the rubber 
to help you push up the end of the paper when you 
want to turn the leaf over. It is very easy to do, if 
you get used to it. Clerks who have to look through 
great piles of papers can look through them very much 
faster that way than by using the fingers. 
Safe milk. Sometimes disease germs get into milk 
that is carelessly handled. To make sure that we are 172 
HEALTH FOR EVERY DAY 
not getting disease germs with our milk, we can heat 
it to kill any that may be there. 
Boiling milk changes its taste, and so we heat milk 
just enough to kill the harmful bacteria. This way 
of heating foods to kill bacteria was first used by a 
Frenchman, Louis Pasteur. When we heat milk to 
kill disease germs we say we pasteurize milk. Why 
do we say pasteur-ize? 
Many cities are so careful about the health of peo- 
ple, especially babies and little children, who drink a 
Fig. 133. Three kinds of labels found on milk bottles in some cities 
Why should all milk, unless certified, be pasteurized before it is 
used? 
great deal of milk, that they have laws requiring that 
the milk be pasteurized before it is sold to people. All 
milk sold in New York City and in most other big cities 
must be pasteurized, unless it comes from cows that 
have had a special examination to show that they are 
healthy, and unless the cows have been milked with 
great care to keep bacteria and dirt from getting into 
the milk. Such milk is called "certified" milk. We 
call it certified milk because the doctors are willing to 
certify that it is good, safe milk. It usually costs more ENEMIES TOO SMALL TO SEE 
173 
than other milk, because farmers and dairymen must 
be paid for the extra trouble they have to take. 
Pasteurized milk is safe milk; and if we cannot get 
certified milk for the babies, we 
must be sure to use pasteurized 
milk. If our milkman does not 
sell pasteurized milk, we can 
pasteurize it ourselves, by heat- 
ing bottles of milk as we heated 
the jar of soil in Figure 128. 
Pasteurized milk is heated for at 
least half an hour at a tempera- 
ture a little lower than boiling, 
as shown in Figure 134. 
Insects carry germs. One night 
a tiny croton bug, that had been 
crawling around over the floor 
and into the garbage pail, found 
its way up to the table where we 
kept our food and crawled over 
a dish of lemon jelly that we 
had left there to cool. We 
didn't know anything at all about 
it; and we put the lemon jelly 
away in the cupboard and forgot 
about it until the next day. 
Then the top of it looked like 
this. For a long time we couldn't guess what these 
little dots were. Have you guessed yet? 
That dirty croton bug had walked all over our jelly 
gOILING 
PASTEURIZING 
Fig. 134. Examine these 
thermometers to find 
the difference between 
boiling and pasteurizing. 174 
HEALTH FOR EVERY DAY 
- eating here and there as he went, probably. At any 
rate he left his tracks - a double line - right legs on 
one side and left legs on the other, as he walked along. 
The little germs from the floor and the garbage pail 
began to grow just where he wiped them off on the 
jelly; and, by the second day, in every footprint there 
were so many germs that now you can see them yourself. 
Fig. 135. A croton bug made the tracks on this dish of gelatine. Each 
little spot is made of millions of germs or bacteria. If we counted each 
spot as one million bacteria, how many would a person swallow if he ate 
this dish of lemon jelly? 
Mosquitoes can carry the germs of malaria and 
yellow fever from persons ill with such diseases to the 
well people they bite afterward. Why do some states 
spend thousands of dollars draining marshes and other 
wet places where mosquitoes breed? 
Protecting our food. If people stopped to think of 
all the dirty places that flies like, they would not let 
them get at their foods. The only sure way of keep- 
ing flies and other insects away from our food is to 
keep them out of the house. ENEMIES TOO SMALL TO SEE 
175 
Turn back to the chapter on food and see what we 
should do to keep our foods clean. One way to help 
is to make sure that we do not leave food around that 
will attract flies, croton bugs or cockroaches, rats and 
mice. Empty the garbage cans before the odor begins 
to attract such animals. Using a newspaper lining 
for the garbage can will make it easier to keep it clean. 
Many people who are very particular about keeping 
Fig. 136. This glass shows two prints made by dirty fingers. When 
the finger print is examined with a microscope it looks like the picture 
at the right, and shows many bacteria. 
themselves and their clothes clean and neat are very- 
careless about their food. 
Common sense about germs. Some people are very 
careless about giving their germs to others, and do 
not like to take the trouble to do things the clean way. 
They get cross sometimes if other people are careful, 
because that shows them how careless they are. You 
will often hear them say that they'd rather not bother 
about such things; that they'd rather not know the 
germs are there. 176 
HEALTH FOR EVERY DAY 
That is really very silly. We can catch colds or 
other diseases from persons, even if we do not know 
that they are spreading germs around. Not knowing 
about it doesn't keep us from danger. Those who 
Fig. 137. These boys came from a neighborhood where there are many 
people with tuberculosis, and the doctor is examining heart and lungs to 
make sure the boys are in good condition before they go to a summer 
camp. (Courtesy of Henry Street Settlement} 
know and think about such things help keep them- 
selves and others well. 
How doctors help control germ diseases. Diph- 
theria, chickenpox, scarlet fever, mumps, measles, 
meningitis and whooping cough are some of the chil- 
dren's diseases which are caused by bacteria and other ENEMIES TOO SMALL TO SEE 
177 
germs. Smallpox, pneumonia, typhoid fever, and 
dysentery are diseases which may attack children as 
well as older people. 
Doctors are now able to make tests to see if we are 
likely to take diphtheria, if we should happen to be 
exposed. Cattle are often tested to find out whether 
they have tuberculosis or not and, in some states, this 
test must be made on cows every six months if their 
milk is to be sold as "certified milk." 
Everybody knows that smallpox can be controlled 
by vaccination, and epidemics of smallpox come only 
in places where there are many people who have not 
been vaccinated. Another kind of vaccination was 
used in the Great War for protecting millions of sol- 
diers from typhoid and dysentery. Diphtheria, too, 
can often be prevented by vaccination. 
Doctors have found that it is possible to give horses 
several of our diseases in a mild form and then use 
their blood to help protect us. The "antitoxin" 
sometimes used in curing diphtheria is obtained in this 
way from the blood of a horse, as is the "antitoxin" 
for lockjaw or tetanus. In pneumonia, the blood sub- 
stance the doctors use is called "pneumonia antiserum." 
Fxg. 138. Notice all the bristles and tiny hairs on the fly's foot which 
is shown here. Could they hold many bacteria? 178 
HEALTH FOR EVERY DAY 
Ten Golden Rules of Health 
for School Children 
1. Play hard and fair-be 
loyal to your team-mates and 
generous to your opponents 
2? Eat slowly. Do not eat 
between meals. Chew food thor- 
oughly. Never drink water when 
there is food in the mouth. Drink 
water several times during the 
day 
3. Brush your teeth at least 
once a day. Rinse your mouth 
out well with water after each 
meal 
4. Be sure your bowels move 
at least once each day 
5. Keep clean-body, clothes, 
and mind. Wash your hands 
always before eating. Take a 
warm bath with soap once or 
twice a week; a cool sponge (or 
shower) bath each morning be- 
fore breakfast and rub your body 
to a glow with a rough towel 
6. Try to keep your compan- 
ions, especially young children, 
away from those who have con- 
tagious diseases 
7. Use your handkerchief to 
cover a sneeze or cough and try 
to avoid coughing, sneezing, or 
blowing your nose in front of 
others 
8. Study hard-and in study, 
work, or play do your best 
9. Sleep: Get as many hours 
in bed each night as this table 
indicates for your age. Keep 
windows in bedroom well open 
HOURS OF SLEEP FOR DIFFERENT AGES 
Age 
Hours of Sleep 
5 to 6 ... . 
13 
6 to 8 . . . . 
12 
8 to io . . . . 
n# 
io to 12 . . . . 
11 
12 to 14 . . . . 
ioj4 
14 to 16 . . . . 
IO 
16 to 18 .. . . . 
10. Be cheerful, and do your best to keep your school and your 
home clean and attractive, and to make the world a better place to 
live in 
Prepared by Dr. Thomas D. Wood, 
Teachers College, Columbia University 
Committee on Health Problems of National Council of 
Education and American Medical Association ENEMIES TOO SMALL TO SEE 
179 
THINGS TO ASK, ANSWER, TELL, OR DO 
1. How can you prove that there are seeds in garden soil 
before you plant or sow any? 
2. Tell what is happening when food spoils. 
3. What have you in your mouth which I could not see if 
I looked? 
4. Is it enough to wash your hands only when they look 
dirty? Why? 
5. Name some "catching diseases." 
6. How can you help to prevent the spread of "catching 
diseases"? 
7. Name some ways of killing germs. 
8. Make up a play about "How Good Manners Protect 
against Germs." 
9. Make a poster to show how a baby can be protected from 
germs. 
10. Make a poster about something else in this chapter. 
11. Why do we pasteurize milk? 
12. Find on the opposite page one rule to prevent spreading 
disease germs. Fig. 139. Did you ever hear of a cat's getting caught in a hole or crack 
that was too small? How does a cat know where it is safe to go? 
{Photograph by C. Clarke) 
CHAPTER IX 
OUR SENSE ORGANS AND THEIR CARE 
We have five senses: (i) feeling or touch, (2) hearing, 
(3) smell, (4) taste, and (5) sight. The eye is the organ 
for seeing; the skin is the chief organ for feeling. 
What are the organs for the other senses? 
Feeling. Let some one test your sense of touch in 
different parts of your skin, using a pair of scissors, or 
a pair of compasses, as shown in Figure 140. Shut 
your eyes and see how many times you can guess cor- 
rectly whether one or both of the points are touching 
Vie skin of your arm. How far apart are the points 
180 OUR SENSE ORGANS AND THEIR CARE 
181 
when they feel like just one point? Put them on the 
finger tip and see if the fingers are more or less sensitive 
than the arm. 
This sense of touch is more important than we 
realize. It is constantly telling us a great deal about 
the objects around us. 
Collect a number of objects which have different 
kinds of edges or surfaces, as in the lists below. 
Edges or Corners 
sharp 
dull 
blunt 
rounded 
pointed 
rough 
Surfaces 
smooth 
rough 
hollowed 
bulging 
ridged 
flat 
Shut your eyes while one of your classmates rubs 
one of your fingers gently over the different articles. 
Fig. 140. Hold the tips of a pair of forceps or scissors as close together 
as in the picture and see whether your finger tip or the back of your hand 
is more sensitive to touch. Why can blind people read raised letters with 
their finger tips - and in a few cases even with their lips? 
Can you tell which ones you are touching? Can you 
tell the shape and the size of objects in this way? 
This sense of touch or feeling has a great deal to 
do with our comfort. Rough edges on our starched 182 
HEALTH FOR EVERY DAY 
collars or cuffs annoy us, but the smooth surfaces of 
freshly ironed waists or clean sheets feel very pleasant 
indeed. Woolly blankets annoy us when they work 
up above the sheets and rub against our faces; and 
many people dislike the feel of woolen underclothes, 
especially if they are made of coarse wool. 
Scientists tell us that the sense of touch is very 
helpful to many animals, and that some of them have 
special organs of touch. Cats, rabbits, and rats have 
whiskers that stick out on each side of the face and 
Fig. 141. How does a rat know when he has gnawed a hole big enough to 
let his body through? 
warn the animal if it tries to go into a hole that is too 
narrow. Some insects have long feelers that help 
them find their way around in dark places. 
Feeling heat and cold. The skin tells us about tem- 
peratures also. Its many nerves tell us when we are 
too warm or too cold; and this leads us to open or shut 
the windows, to move to a cooler or a warmer place, 
to change the amount or kind of clothing, and to 
move or exercise more or less rapidly. 183 
OUR SENSE ORGANS AND THEIR CARE 
Feeling pain. Feeling pain is not the same thing as 
the sense of touch, though we do say we feel pain, 
and we often feel it through the skin, as in the case 
of a burned finger. Pain is a sign that something is 
wrong; it tells us that some part of the body is working 
too hard, or has been strained or hurt, or has become 
diseased. 
Our eyes may pain us because we have used them 
too long or have been reading in a dim light; our 
stomachs may ache because they have food they 
cannot digest properly; our teeth may ache because 
we have cracked their hard surfaces biting nuts, thus 
allowing bacteria to find their way into the soft part 
of the teeth; or our hands may hurt because we have 
blistered the skin. 
Good, healthy eyes, ears, teeth, and noses do not 
give us pain. If yours hurt or ache at all, let a nurse 
or doctor examine them and tell you what to do. 
Hearing. The outer part of the ear is like the mouth 
part of the speaking tubes we sometimes see in fac- 
tories or apartment houses. It collects sounds and 
sends them into the tube of the ear. Sometimes people 
who cannot hear well hold the hand around the ear so as 
to collect more sounds to send into this tube. 
At the inner end of the ear tube is a thin membrane, 
which is stretched quite tight, as membranes are 
stretched over the ends of a drum. This membrane 
or eardrum is delicate and easily injured. Sharp 
things poked into the ear to clean it may injure the 
eardrum, and so interfere with our hearing. 184 
HEALTH FOR EVERY DAY 
Care of the ear. Never use a hairpin or anything 
sharp to clean out the wax which collects in the ear 
tube. If so much collects that it shows in the tube, 
wash it out with warm water and white soap. Fold a 
soft washcloth over the tip of the little finger, or twist 
the corner of it into a point so that it is small enough 
to go into the ear tube. 
If any small object gets into the ear, lie down or 
hold the head sidewise while some one fills the ear 
Fig. 142. When the boy talks into this speaking tube made with two 
funnels and a long piece of hose, the sound waves travel to the other 
funnel and reach the ear of the girl who is in another room. When the 
girl's eardrum catches these waves she hears what the boy is saying. 
with warm water. Keep it there a few minutes and 
then turn the head over to let it run out. If an insect 
gets into the ear, use warm olive or salad oil in the 
same way, and the insect will probably come out with 
the oil. If this treatment does not help, see a nurse or 
a doctor as soon as possible. 
Never make loud noises close to the ear; shots, 
exploding paper bags or firecrackers, or any loud noise 
may send air into the ear with enough force to injure OUR SENSE ORGANS AND THEIR CARE 
185 
the eardrum. "Boxing the ears" is very likely to injure 
the drum in the same way. 
Smelling. Of what use are noses? Have you seen 
dogs, horses, or other animals sniff their food before 
eating it? 
Do hunters move in the same direction as the wind, 
as they creep stealthily nearer wild game? Why? 
The noses of most animals have three uses: (i) to 
smell prey, (2) to discover enemies, and (3) to help 
tell what is good to eat. For which of these do you 
sometimes use your nose? Name one animal which 
uses its nose for all three. 
Can you breathe while holding your nose shut? Can 
you breathe while holding your mouth tightly closed? 
Which way do you breathe when you try to smell a 
flower or a bottle of perfume? 
Try to smell a piece of onion or anything with a 
strong odor while breathing through your mouth and 
holding your nose tightly closed with your fingers. 
Does this prove that you smell only when air passes 
through the nostrils? 
Noses are used for smelling, and humans and all 
land animals which have a backbone also use their 
noses for breathing. Any odors in the air will be smelled 
as the air for breathing is drawn through the passages 
of the nose. Animals and humans often sniff and 
breathe deeply, so as to draw in more air and get a 
stronger odor. 
Tasting. Did you ever play the game which shows 
how easily people can be fooled about the tastes of 186 
HEALTH FOR EVERY DAY 
different foods? Sometime, when you want a little fun, 
cut some small pieces of onion, radish, potato, apple, 
and carrot, and give them to some one who is blind- 
folded; have him hold his nose while he eats these 
pieces, and see whether he can tell what he is eating. 
You will then see that the nose tells us more about our 
foods than we had thought. What we sometimes call 
taste is smell, at least in part. 
There are some flavors, however, that are not odors. 
Touch a little sugar and salt to the tongue while you 
hold the nose. Do they taste like sugar and salt? 
Try vinegar or lemon juice on the tongue in the same 
way. Why is the tongue usually called the organ of 
taste? 
Sometimes, when we have a bad cold, the membranes 
in the nose are very swollen, so that very little air 
gets into or through the nose passages. Can you ex- 
plain why we can still taste sugar and salt, while some 
of our food has very little taste at such times, and we 
say it is "flat" or tasteless? 
Nose and throat for breathing. When we tried 
holding the nose, we found that we could breathe 
through the mouth. Breathing through the nose, 
however, is the natural and healthful way. 
Sometimes "bad colds" in the nose make people 
breathe mostly through the mouth; but usually such 
stopping of the nose lasts only a few days. 
If we breathe through our mouths we have to hold 
them open, of course. People who keep their mouths 
open look stupid. Did you ever see a person who 187 
OUR SENSE ORGANS AND THEIR CARE 
looked very alive or very alert, who kept his mouth 
open? 
Air is drawn through the passages of the nose, 
through the throat, into the windpipe, or trachea, and 
then into the lungs. 
Hold a mirror so as to see the little hairs inside 
the nose. What happens to much of the dust or other 
impurities in the air we take in through our noses, as 
it is strained through these hairs? Which gives cleaner 
air for our lungs - breathing through the mouth or 
through the nose? 
Tonsils and adenoids need attention. You cannot 
see the adenoids, which are little soft or spongy bodies 
that grow in the passageway between the mouth and 
the nose. Sometimes these become so enlarged that 
they interfere with nose breathing; children with such 
enlarged adenoids can breathe more comfortably with 
their mouths open. 
But we have already learned several reasons why 
mouth breathing is not the best way to breathe. 
Besides, the nose pathway or passage to the lungs is 
very much longer than the mouth passage, and even 
cold winter air entering through the nose becomes 
quite warm before it reaches the lungs. 
If the adenoids are too large to leave a clear passage- 
way for air, they should be taken out by a doctor. 
They may make children have colds more often than 
they would otherwise, and many children do not do 
their school work well until their enlarged adenoids are 
removed. 188 
HEALTH FOR EVERY DAY 
Little children who have large adenoids or tonsi's 
should have them taken out by a doctor as soon as 
they are discovered - even before going to school. A 
child is sometimes scolded for being slow or stupid when 
what he needs is proper care of his nose and throat. 
Fig. 143. Both these children have adenoids, and hold their mouths open 
so as to breathe more comfortably. Why is that kind of breathing bad 
for them? {Courtesy of Henry Street Settlement} 
The tonsils are far back in the throat in the cavity 
of the mouth, one on each side of the passageway to 
the throat. They can be seen in a hand mirror. 
Sometimes germs grow in them, causing such diseases 
as tonsilitis. Children with diseased tonsils are likely 
to have frequent sore throats, which may be prevented 
by removing the tonsils. OUR SENSE ORGANS AND THEIR CARE 
189 
Keeping the nose clean. This is just as important 
as keeping the mouth and teeth clean. People rarely 
mention it, because it is one of the things everybody is 
expected to know about and to do. But while most 
people are careful to use a handkerchief, a great many 
people do not know how to blow the nose. They try 
upper hp- 
„soft palate- 
.uvula 
tonsil - 
-tonsil 
opening 
to throat- 
tongue. 
-Jowe? teeth 
-lower lip 
Fig. 144. Face the light and hold a hand mirror so that you may see the 
tonsils near the back of your tongue. 
to blow both sides at once. You should not blow both 
sides at the same instant, because you may force air 
into the tube which leads from the nose to the ear. 
Instead, you should press one side of the nose shut 
while you blow down through the other side of the 
nose. Try it, to see if you can do this easily and natu- 
rally with one hand, so as not to attract attention. 
When to use the handkerchief. We should use a 
handkerchief (or paper napkin) whenever there is any- 
thing in the nose that needs to be removed. Even if 190 
HEALTH FOR EVERY DAY 
we haven't a cold, we should clean the nose at least 
twice a day, by blowing out the dust that has collected 
in it. 
After you have been doing dusty work, such as 
Fig. 145. In blowing the nose, blow one side at a time, holding the other 
side shut. When you have colds, you may force disease germs up into 
the tube that connects the mouth and the ear, if you blow both sides of 
the nose at the same time. {Photograph by Edith Ricker) 
sweeping or sifting ashes, be sure to blow your nose 
as well as to wash your face and hands. 
Care of the mouth and throat. Loud screaming or 
yelling may strain or irritate the throat. Sometimes 
at ball games people shout and yell until they are OUR SENSE ORGANS AND THEIR CARE 
191 
hoarse. If they could see their throats, they would 
find them red and inflamed. 
This condition is not good for the throat, and it is 
easier for germs to grow in such throats. It is also 
bad for the voice. Singers are very careful not to 
strain their voices or to catch cold, because they know 
such things may injure the voice forever. 
Most people, however, do not realize how easily 
children may injure their voices by shouting and 
.creaming, or even by singing songs that are too high. 
Fig. 146. Does the shape of the pupils in this animal's eyes tell you what 
animal it is? Was this photograph taken in a light or a dark place? 
{Photograph by Edith Ricker) 
By doing these things we may injure not only our sing- 
ing voices, but also our speaking voices. No doubt your 
teacher has already told you this if you sing too high. 
Watch the older people you know, and decide which 
man and which woman has the pleasantest speaking 
voice. Watch yourself and see if you can make your 
voice softer and more pleasing. Do you have just as 
good a time on the playground as the children who 
make shrill, ear-splitting noises? 
Eyes. The eye is so delicate that it has a special 
covering, called the eyelid, to keep it from becoming 192 
HEALTH FOR EVERY DAY 
injured. When anything comes too close to the eye, 
the eyelid covers it "just as quick as a wink." 
Does your eyelid move up or down? Look at your 
canary bird, at a chicken, a toad, or a frog, and see how 
their eyelids move. How do their eyelids differ from ours? 
Some water animals have no eyelids at all. The fish 
has none. Is a fish very likely to get dust into its eye? 
In the middle of the eye you will see a small, round, 
black spot called the pupil. That is where the light 
Fig. 147. The pupils in this girl's eyes are very small because she was 
facing a bright light. The colored area around each pupil is the iris. 
The white spots near the pupils are caused by reflected light. {Photo- 
graph by Edith Ricker} 
enters the eye. What shape is the pupil in your eye? 
Examine the eyes in Figure 149. What shape is the 
pupil in the chicken's eye? 
When it is very light a very little hole will let in 
enough light for seeing. Look at the eyes of some 
one at home and see how small the pupil is when he 
is in a well-lighted room. Then ask that person to 
go into a dark place for five or ten minutes. When OUR SENSE ORGANS AND THEIR CARE 
193 
he comes back, notice the size of the pupil. What 
change takes place as he stays in the lighted room? 
Owls and other animals that use their eyes a great 
deal at night have very large pupils. Cats have eyes 
that see well both during the day and at night. Their 
pupils can change in size so as to let in the right amount 
Fig. 148. This ostrich's eye looks queer because he has covered it with the 
third or inner lower eyelid. The lower eyelid, that is like ours, is open and 
shows - a light line at the lower part of the eye. (Wide World Photos) 
of light. Put a cat in a dark and then in a light 
place, and notice how much its pupils change. 
Care of the eyes. While the pupil of the eye can 
change, letting in more or less light, as needed, it 
cannot always change enough to enable us to see in 
very dark places or in intense light. 194 
HEALTH FOR EVERY DAY 
What happened to the eagle who "flew into the 
sun"? You, too, have already learned, no doubt, 
that it really hurts your eyes to stare too long at a 
very bright light. Why is it better to have several 
small lights in a room instead of one strong bright 
light? Why do we object to having clear glass globes 
over the strong electric lights that we use in offices 
Fig. 149. Is the pupil of this chicken's eye shaped like yours or like a 
cat's? Where is the chicken's nose? (Photograph by Edith Ricker) 
and public buildings? Why do the laws prohibit plain 
glass in automobile headlights? 
Close work with too little light may harm the eyes. 
It is not wise for us to use the eyes in close work, such 
as writing or sewing, in dim light, because the eye 
muscles have to work too hard. That makes the eyes 
ache and sometimes causes headache also. 
We often strain our eyes by going on with our read- OUR SENSE ORGANS AND THEIR CARE 
195 
ing or other work as it grows dark, at the end of the 
day. We foolishly think it is too much trouble to get 
a light, and so we try to finish what we are doing 
before we quit or go to get proper light. This is a 
great mistake? Why? 
Another way in which we strain our eyes is by not 
having our work at the right distance from the eyes. 
Fig. 150. This little girl has very good light on the pages of her book, 
but it is not easy to keep the whole page at the proper distance. 
{Photograph by Edith Ricker} 
Measure with a ruler to see how far from your eye you 
are holding this page. Move the book back and forth 
to find the distance at which the print seems clearest. 
Most children find fifteen inches a good reading dis- 
tance. If it is less than twelve inches or more than 
twenty inches you should have your eyes examined to 
see if you do not need glasses. 196 
HEALTH FOR EVERY DAY 
Look at the illustration on this page, and select a 
good reading position for a book that you can hold in 
your hand. What is a good position for papers or 
things that must be flat on the desk? Does it make 
Fig. 15 i. Notice that the light is falling over this boy's shoulder and that 
the pages are well lighted. The picture also shows a good sitting position 
for reading. {Photograph by Edith Ricker) 
any difference whether the desk top is flat or sloping? 
Which way can you see more of the paper clearly at a 
time? In the best schoolhouses the seats are arranged 
so that the light comes from the left side; otherwise OUR SENSE ORGANS AND THEIR CARE 
197 
most pupils would write in the shadow of their hands. 
Would this be the best position for left-handed pupils? 
Do you always sit so as to avoid shadows on your work 
when writing or reading at home? 
Nowadays we use our eyes so much for reading, writ- 
ing, sewing, figuring, or other "close work" that the 
eye muscles are often overworked. Look up from your 
Fig, 152. This position for reading is better than that in Fig. 150, but 
sitting properly in a chair causes less strain on the eyes. {Photograph 
by Edith Ricker) 
close work, and look far into the distance - across the 
street, or over the fields - once in a while. Another 
good plan is to shut the eyes for three or four minutes 
every half hour. Even if your eyes do not hurt you, 
it is a good plan to rest them in such ways. Make it 
a rule to do so, and it may help you keep your eyes 
strong and well. 198 
HEALTH FOR EVERY DAY 
Did you ever notice how hard it is to read on the 
trolley or railroad train? Why? Make a list of other 
places where it is hard to read. If school children have 
to study while they travel to school on the cars, they 
should study the lessons that they have to memorize, 
Fig. 153. Every time you rock you move the book a little farther from, 
or nearer to, the eyes, and the eye muscles have to do more work than 
they should. Reading on a trolley car or swing is just as bad for the eyes. 
{Photograph by Edith Ricker) 
because they do not have to read them so steadily. 
In studying spelling, for example, look at a word; close 
your eyes; see if you can see it with your eyes closed; 
or imagine you see it printed in the sky until you have 
learned that word. OUR SENSE ORGANS AND THEIR CARE 
199 
Tears clean the eyes. A small amount of the tear 
liquid is always washing over the eyes and running 
down into the nose. It passes through a tiny tube 
which leads from the corner of the eye near the nose 
into the nose. When you cry, so much of the tear liquid 
washes down over the eye that it cannot get into this 
little tube or passageway, and it spills out on your face. 
This tear liquid washes down tiny particles of dust 
that may chance to get into the eye; and sometimes 
even bits of coal dust, grit, etc., which stick in the eye, 
may be washed away by the tears. 
Removing things from the eye. The eyelids and eye- 
lashes help keep fine dust from getting into the eye, but 
sometimes a tiny bit gets past them. When this hap- 
pens, never rub the eye. Lift the upper eyelid with 
clean fingers; pull it out and then down over the lower 
eyelid as far as possible. Keep it there while *you 
blow the same side of the nose, holding the other side 
of the nose shut. That helps draw the tear fluid down 
into the nose, and may wash out the dust. After 
reading these directions, show your teacher how you 
would do this. 
If this treatment doesn't relieve you, don't stick 
your finger or a dirty handkerchief into the eye, but 
have a nurse or doctor look at it. If you have to wait 
very long for help, drop a little boric acid solution into 
the eye, using a clean medicine dropper, or the tip of 
a clean spoon. 
Keeping the eyes clean. You have already been 
warned about sticking your fingers into your eye. Do 200 
HEALTH FOR EVERY DAY 
not rub or press your fingers against the eye. You may 
press hard enough to injure it. Another reason is that 
fingers are rarely clean, even when they look clean. 
You might rub germs into your eyes, and so make 
them sore or inflamed. That is the real reason why 
you must not use washcloths and towels that other 
people have used. Even persons who seem well may 
have harmful germs in their eyes, or in their noses or 
mouths. 
Glasses to help the eyes. Many children need glasses 
to help them see better. Often we can tell that our 
eyes need help because they hurt us, because our heads 
ache, because our eyes are red and inflamed, or because 
letters and other small objects cannot be seen clearly 
and distinctly. A great many children, and even older 
people, do not know that they are not seeing as clearly 
as they should. Nearly all schools have large cards 
with letters of different sizes, which may be used to 
test the eyes by seeing how far away the letters can be 
read. 
Another way to test the eyes is to use a clockface 
like that in Figure 157. If the lines are not all clear 
black lines when you hold the figure at the proper 
reading distance, your eyes should be examined care- 
fully by a doctor, because you may need glasses. 
If you need eyeglasses, you should get them at once 
and use them just as the oculist directs. It is foolish 
to refuse to wear glasses because you think they "do 
not look nice." Do not put off getting glasses think- 
ing you may not need them later, or that you may OUR SENSE ORGANS AND THEIR CARE 
201 
VISION CHART FOR SCHOOLS 
Fig. 154. Large charts of this kind are used in testing the eyes. A piece 
of an eye chart is shown full size on page 203. 202 
HEALTH FOR EVERY DAY 
outgrow the need for glasses, because the delay may 
be injurious to your eyes and to your general health 
as well. The sooner you get the right kind of glasses 
to rest your eyes, the better chance you will have of 
outgrowing the need for them. The longer you force 
your eyes to do without glasses, the more difficult it 
will be to overcome the headache or the nervousness 
that comes from eyestrain. 
Read with a clear, good light fall- 
ing from above over your shoulder. 
Hold your book about fourteen in- 
ches from your eyes. 
Always read with your head up. 
Keep your books clean: a soiled 
page is hard to read. 
Avoid books printed indistinctly, 
in small type, or on glossy paper. 
Rest your eyes frequently. 
If your eyes ache, or if you have any 
difficulty in seeing things dis- 
tinctly, have your eyes examined. 
ISSUED BY THE JUNIOR COMMITTEE FOR THE PREVENTION OF BLINDNESS 
l» CAST I2D STREET. NEW YORK CITY 
Fig. 155 Find here one new rule about using your eyes. OUR SENSE ORGANS AND THEIR CARE 
203 
Fig. 156. Place this page flat against the wall and see if you can read 
the different lines at the distances given. 204 
HEALTH FOR EVERY DAY 
Fig. 157. Hold this page at proper reading distance. Do any of these 
sets of lines look paler or more blurred than the rest? If so, have your 
eyes examined for glasses, or you may strain them in your reading. 
Eyes should be tested separately by holding a card in front of one eye 
while the other is being tested. 
Every school should have some big charts for testing eyes. They may 
be obtained from the Eye Sight Conservation Council of America, Times 
Building, New York City. 
Red eyes, headaches, squinting, frowning, sore lids, or frequent sties 
show that the eyes should be examined by an oculist. OUR SENSE ORGANS AND THEIR CARE 
205 
THINGS TO ASK, ANSWER, TELL, OR DO 
1. Make a set of five pictures to show what the five senses 
are. 
2. Do any animals have organs of touch which you do not 
have? Why is this? 
3. Finish this sentence: "In Chapter on page 
of this book I read that "pain is a sign that 
4. Think of four careless ways by which you might injure 
your eardrum. 
5. What would you do if your little sister should get a bug 
in her ear? 
6. From what this book tells you about smelling and tast- 
ing, can you think of an easy way to take an unpleasant 
medicine? 
7. Give two good reasons why you should breathe through 
your nose with your mouth closed. 
8. Where are adenoids, and why do people have them taken 
out? 
9. What is the right way to blow the nose? Why? 
10. How do some children injure their voices in their play 
or singing? 
11. Why do people need eyelids and fish need none? 
12. Is the pupil of your eye larger in the dark or in the light? 
Why? 
13. Do cats see better at night than we do? Why? 
14. Make a poster which will show us how to take care of our 
eyes and keep them strong. 
15. Give two good habits for resting the eyes while at work. 
16. What are tears for? 
17. What should you do when a cinder gets into your eye? 
18. What are some of the signs that warn people that they 
need glasses? 
19. Why is it foolish for a boy to go without his glasses 
because he doesn't think they "look nice"? CHAPTER X 
ALCOHOL AND OTHER HARMFUL DRUGS 
Alcoholic drinks waste food. Before the recent great 
war, in the United States alone we were using each year 
at least 120,000,000 bushels of cereal grains, such as 
wheat, rye, and barley, in order to make beer and 
other alcoholic drinks. This did not include grains 
needed to make the alcohol used for drugs and for 
manufacturing purposes. Those millions of bushels 
wasted each year would have been enough to feed 
several million persons. During the war our people 
realized more than ever before how unfair it was to 
use grains to make beer and other alcoholic drinks 
when people were dying for lack of food. 
Alcohol interferes with work. There are many people 
who harm themselves by drinking such liquors as beer 
and whisky. This affects them so that they become 
poorer workmen. They do not do their work so well; 
they make more mistakes at their printing, bookkeep- 
ing, or typewriting; they are more likely to have acci- 
dents when working with their machines or at other 
kinds of work; even the men who do heavy work like 
digging do not do so much work on the days when 
they drink alcohol as when they do not drink it. It 
is easy to see that the use of anything that interferes 
206 ALCOHOL AND OTHER HARMFUL DRUGS 
207 
Fig. 158. Each of these costs twelve cents. Which of them would give 
a man more strength for his work? Do you agree with Benjamin 
Franklin about this? 
with our work is harmful to us, because most of us 
have to work for a living. 
Benjamin Franklin found out for himself that alco- 
hol makes men poor workmen. This is what he said 
when he wrote the story of his life: 
I drank only water; the other workmen, near fifty in 
number, were great guzzlers of beer. On occasion, I car- 
ried up and down stairs a large form of types in each hand, 
when others carried but one in both hands. They won- 
dered to see, from this and several instances, that the 
"water American," as they called me, was stronger than 
themselves, who drank strong beer! We had an alehouse 
boy, who attended always in the house to supply the work- 208 
HEALTH FOR EVERY DAY 
men. My companion at the press drank every day a pint 
before breakfast, a pint at breakfast with his bread and 
cheese, a pint between breakfast and dinner, a pint at din- 
ner, a pint in the afternoon about six o'clock, and another 
when he had done his day's work. I thought it a detest- 
able custom; but it was necessary, he supposed, to drink 
strong beer that he might be strong to labor. I endeavored 
to convince him that the bodily strength afforded by beer 
could only be in proportion to the grain or flour of the 
barley dissolved in the water of which it was made; that 
there was more flour in a pennyworth of bread; and there- 
fore, if he would eat that with a pint of water, it would 
give him more strength than a quart of beer. He drank 
on, however, and had four or five shillings to pay out of 
his wages every Saturday night for that muddling liquor; 
an expense I was free from. And thus these poor fellows 
keep themselves always under. 
Why do athletic coaches and trainers not allow the 
men they are training to drink alcohol? If it is not 
good for them when they are playing baseball or foot- 
ball, is it good for them when playing other kinds of 
games or sports, such as tennis, running races, and 
wrestling? 
Alcohol leads to poverty. Did you ever read George 
MacDonald's story of Sir Gibbie, the little boy who 
never had a pair of shoes, even though his father was a 
shoemaker? His father was really a kind man and 
fond of his little boy, but he drank so much that he 
never finished a pair of shoes for Gibbie. By the time 
he had made one shoe, he'd get drunk again and forget 
all about Gibbie's shoes until the shoe he had made ALCOHOL AND OTHER HARMFUL DRUGS 
209 
was too small, and then he would have to start a new 
pair of shoes. And so poor Gibbie went barefoot, 
winter as well as summer; and he hopped about on the 
icy sidewalks, one foot at a time, to keep his feet from 
freezing, while he was waiting outside the saloon to 
help his father home. 
The shoemaker really loved his boy, but he could 
not control his appetite for alcohol. Such people aren't 
usually very nice or comfortable to live with. They 
often lose their positions because of their drinking 
habits. Their judgment becomes poor and they may 
lose customers, waste materials, and make poor invest- 
ments. Their families often have to go without things 
they really need. Little children may even have to go 
cold and hungry because their fathers or mothers waste 
their money on beer and whisky. A great many of the 
charity cases that churches and cities have to help are 
caused by alcoholic drinks. 
How alcohol harms the body. Alcohol makes the 
heart work harder, and so it pumps more blood than 
is needed through the body every minute. This 
stretches or swells the little blood tubes, and some- 
times they stay enlarged so that the skin looks red 
all the time. 
Often people who drink a great deal of alcohol show 
it in their faces. Their skins become very red, es- 
pecially on their noses. Nobody likes to have a red 
nose; and nobody likes to think that those who look at 
him are thinking, "There goes a man who can't control 
his appetite for liquor." 210 
HEALTH FOR EVERY DAY 
Alcohol is like a whip. A whip makes a horse go 
faster; even a poor, tired-out horse goes more quickly 
if a whip is used. But a whip doesn't really give the 
horse more food 
or strength to go 
on. It only makes 
him use up faster 
the little strength 
that he has. 
Our bodies, 
too, will wear out 
faster if we make 
a custom of using 
alcohol. Insur- 
ance companies 
will not insure 
people who drink 
much liquor. This 
is because the rec- 
ords of thousands 
of drinking men 
have shown that 
most of them did 
not live so long 
as men who were 
not slaves to al- 
cohol. 
The alcohol habit is hard to break. People who use 
beer, wine, or whisky often drink more than they mean 
to take because liquor makes them thirsty, and then 
Fig. 159. Why does the Eighteenth Amend- 
ment to the Constitution of the United States 
prohibit the manufacture and sale of these 
alcoholic liquors? ALCOHOL AND OTHER HARMFUL DRUGS 
211 
they feel they must have another drink, and still 
another drink. There is an old saying, " A man takes 
a drink, and then the drink takes a drink." 
Another reason why some people drink so much 
alcohol is because this habit is very easily formed. 
Such habits are also very hard to break. People who 
have the alcohol habit often suffer very much if they 
cannot get liquor regularly, and so they give in over 
and over again until the habit becomes so strong that 
they have not the will power to overcome it. 
Did you ever read the tale of Rip Van Winkle? He 
was always pledging himself not to take another drink, 
but soon he'd begin drinking again. Every time he 
drank another glass, he'd say to himself, "This drink 
doesn't count." 
One night, after a quarrel with his wife, he wandered 
up into the hills, where he found some little men of the 
mountains playing at ten-pins, and he drank some of 
their keg of liquor. It made him thirsty, and he drank 
more and more until he fell into a drunken sleep that 
lasted for twenty years. When he awoke, his dog was 
gone and his gun had become so rusty it fell to pieces. 
Rip did not guess he had been asleep for more than 
one night, and he was surprised when he went down to 
the little village to find his home deserted and none 
of his old friends in the inn where he used to spend 
most of his time drinking. 
What was even worse, nobody knew him. In fact, 
he hardly knew himself, for now his hair hung down 
over his shoulders, and he had grown a long, long 212 
HEALTH FOR EVERY DAY 
beard. The boys poked fun at his odd clothes and 
his long beard, and the men quarreled with him be- 
cause he talked about the king. He had.slept through 
the whole American Revolution, and didn't know our 
people had changed the government and elected George 
Washington as the first President of the United States. 
Perhaps the man who first told the tale about Rip 
Van Winkle was trying to make people see how much 
Fig. 160. A poppy flower, and its fruit, which contains a juice used to 
make opium. The pods are cut, and the juice runs out in drops, as 
shown in the picture. 
liquor can change a person. Drinking people often 
become careless, or rough, or cross; and sometimes they 
do very wicked things indeed. Some beat the members 
of their families, and their animals, and even kill people. 
They are so different when drunk that their friends 
and families often look in wonder to see them so changed 
by a glass or two of whisky. 
All laws should be obeyed. Even though people are 
very much better without alcoholic drinks, there are a 
great many who do not like our American prohibition 
law. ALCOHOL AND OTHER HARMFUL DRUGS 
213 
Some of them do not like prohibition because they 
want alcoholic drinks, such as beer and whisky, to 
drink. Some do not like the law because they want to 
make money selling liquor. 
No matter whether we like the prohibition law or 
not, it is the law, and we should all obey it as long as 
Fig. 161. Cocaine and several 
other drugs are obtained from 
the leaves of the coca plant, a 
little bush plant not at all like 
the cacao or chocolate tree, or 
like the coconut palm. 
it remains the law. It is as much our duty to obey 
this law as the law against theft, robbery, forgery, or 
any other law of our country. 
Other harmful things. There are other drugs besides 
alcohol that are very bad for us, dulling our minds, 
and taking away our self-control and our will to do 
the right things. 
One of these drugs is opium. It comes from the 214 
HEALTH FOR EVERY DAY 
fruits of the poppy plant. Morphine and laudanum 
also come from the poppy fruits. 
Cocaine is a drug made from the coca plant. This 
is a bushy plant, very different from the coconut palm 
from which we get coconuts, and also different from 
Fig. 162. This shows a branch from the chocolate or cacao plant. The 
seeds, which are ground to make chocolate, grow in large pods as shown 
in this picture. 
the chocolate (or cacao) tree, from which we get the 
useful foods, cocoa and chocolate. 
How drug habits are formed. When people are in 
great pain they may be given drugs like morphine 
to drive away or relieve pain, just as a doctor gives 
a patient ether or gas before an operation. 
When an illness is a long, hard one, and it is necessary 
to give the patient many doses to dull the pain, a 
doctor is usually very careful to use several different 
drugs, so that the patient does not form a habit for ALCOHOL AND OTHER HARMFUL DRUGS 
215 
any special drug, such as morphine or cocaine. There 
are several new drugs which are better than the old 
ones because they relieve pain but do not lead to drug 
habits. A great many very bright and clever people 
have had their lives spoiled by alcohol or other drugs. 
Years ago when people knew less about drugs and 
the habits they cause, they used to give babies medi- 
cines to keep them quiet. When a baby cried or when 
it didn't go to sleep, they gave it a dose of "soothing 
syrup" or paregoric, both of which contain laudanum. 
They didn't realize that well babies are good babies, 
and do not cry, and so instead of finding out why the 
baby cried, they gave it a drug to make it stop. 
Nearly every one .knows better now. Such drugs 
are very bad for little babies. They may keep them 
from growing and developing properly, and so spoil 
their whole lives. 
Patent medicines and habits. Those who take 
patent medicines think this or that kind of medicine 
makes them feel better - brighter and stronger. 
Sometimes they think a medicine helps them so much 
that they can't get along without their "bitters" or 
their "tonic" or their "syrup." If they go without, 
they feel dull or tired, or they have a headache. 
That sounds as if they were forming a habit, doesn't 
it? And that is just what a great many patent medi- 
cines make people do. They contain alcohol or other 
drugs, and people who use them form an alcohol habit 
or a drug habit. Some of these patent medicines are 
one-fourth alcohol. 216 
HEALTH FOR EVERY DAY 
About fifteen years ago (1906) the United States 
Government passed a law that the labels on patent 
medicine bottles should have on them both the names 
and the amount of alcohol or any other habit-forming 
drugs which they contain. 
Now, since the prohibition law was passed (1918), 
it is also against the law to sell liquors and medicines 
that contain large amounts of alcohol, without a pre- 
scription from a doctor. Such laws protect people 
because they make it more difficult for them to form 
alcohol and other drug habits. 
Millions of dollars are spent each year in advertising 
many "patent medicines," but the drug stores do not 
sell so much as they once did, because people are 
growing wiser. Some of these medicines really do help 
make people well, but many of them couldn't possibly 
do all the labels say they will do. The makers of these 
medicines do not really care about curing other people; 
all they want is to make money for themselves. To 
do this they often try to make people believe that a 
patent medicine will cure many different diseases. 
One patent medicine had a label which said it could cure 
twenty different diseases. Do you think this could 
be true? 
Often we don't know just what is the matter with us, 
and so we could not choose the right medicine, even 
if the labels were all true. When we are ill it is safer 
to see a doctor, so that he can examine us to decide 
what is the best possible medicine or treatment 
for us. ALCOHOL AND OTHER HARMFUL DRUGS 
217 
Harmful effects of tobacco. Before Columbus came 
to America, the tobacco plant was not known any- 
where else in the world. When Sir Walter Raleigh 
made his first trip to Virginia, he learned to smoke. 
You have probably heard the story of how, when he 
returned to England, his servant became frightened 
at seeing smoke coming out of Sir Walter's mouth and 
threw water over him to put out the fire. Since then, 
Fig. 163. The cost of one cigar a day amounts to a large sum in a year. 
Do you spend money on anything that might interfere with your health? 
the smoking habit has spread very rapidly indeed, and 
now it would be impossible to count the number of 
people who smoke. 
Smoking isn't as harmful as using alcohol and drugs; 
but it isn't really necessary or helpful, and it is a very 
expensive habit. The more a person smokes, the more 
he wants to smoke, usually; so that in a year most 
smokers spend quite a large sum for tobacco. 
How much does a cigar or package of cigarettes cost? 
How many cigars or cigarettes do most of the men you 
know smoke in a day? Ask some one who smokes how 
much tobacco costs him each week. How much is that 
a year? 218 
HEALTH FOR EVERY DAY 
Smoking often makes people very nervous, too 
nervous to do their work properly. Sometimes tobacco 
habits are very hard to break. Joseph Conrad, the 
writer, once told how hard he found it to stop for even 
two days: "I could not work; I could not sit still. I 
was unable even to think properly. Constantly I 
paced up and down, my hand always going to my 
Fig. 164. This picture shows the flowers and upper leaves of a tobacco 
plant. Is the use of tobacco necessary? Do you know any reasons for 
using tobacco? 
pocket and appearing with a cigarette and matches, 
which I put back again." 
Smoking very often affects the throat. Even if it 
doesn't make the throat sore, it may keep it irritated 
and make it more likely to become sore when sore- 
throat germs get into the mouth. 
Smoking may have another bad effect. It makes ALCOHOL AND OTHER HARMFUL DRUGS 
219 
some people spit a great deal, and that is a disgusting 
habit. That is one reason why chewing tobacco seems 
so much worse than smoking. It makes people spit 
much more than smoking does. Another reason is that 
many who chew tobacco make ugly or annoying move- 
ments of the jaws. For the same reason constant 
"gum chewing" in public is not in good taste. 
Even though many men do not seem to be harmed 
by the amount of tobacco they use, there is no doubt 
that tobacco is bad for growing boys. This is a good 
reason why no boy should begin to smoke before growth 
is completed, which means twenty-one to twenty-four 
years of age. Most persons who can exercise that 
much self-control need never form the smoking habit. 
The school records of young boys are sometimes very 
different for the boys who smoke and the boys who do 
not. In Dr. O'Shea's book on the effect of tobacco on 
the mind, he says that practically all high school 
principals and teachers agree that the use of tobacco 
interferes with school work; and that the records of 
a great many schoolboys, kept for a number of years, 
showed that when a boy began to use tobacco his work 
became poorer, compared with that of the boys who 
did not use it. 
Mr. James Peabody, who has worked for thirty 
years with thousands of high school boys in New York 
City, says in his book on Biology and Human Welfare 
that "the ambitious boy, who has any regard for de- 
veloping a vigorous body fitted for athletic success, 
for training a mind capable of clear thinking, and for 220 
HEALTH FOR EVERY DAY 
preparing himself for a successful life work, will resist 
all temptations to smoke, at least until he has attained 
his full growth." 
Every boy ought to make up his mind that he will 
put off his first cigar as long as he can. It is harder to 
Fig. 165. A branch of the tea plant showing the leaves, which are used 
for making tea, and also a few flowers. 
refuse a cigarette than it is to try one. It is harder to 
refuse the second cigarette than the first one. 
Make up your mind now to see how long you can 
"stick it out." Can you wait until you cast your first 
vote? A boy who can control himself in even one little 
thing like that - or is it a big thing? - has more 
backbone than one who doesn't "stick it out" - or 
doesn't even try to. ALCOHOL AND OTHER HARMFUL DRUGS 
221 
Temperance in food and drink. Temperance isn't 
just doing without liquor. We sometimes get that idea 
because the societies that tried to control alcoholic 
drinking called themselves temperance societies. 
Fig. 166. This spray of coffee plant shows many coffee berries. Each 
berry holds two of the flat pieces which you see in coffee that has not been 
ground. (Courtesy of New York Botanical Garden) 
Some people are intemperate about eating. They 
eat too much at a meal, and think too much about 
eating. They love their food just as drunkards love 
whisky. 222 
HEALTH FOR EVERY DAY 
Sometimes people are intemperate about just one 
kind of food. It may be candy, or ice cream, or tea, 
or coffee. 
Tea and coffee are stimulants like alcohol; some- 
times "they keep us awake." It is not good to eat or 
drink things that interfere with our rest and sleep. 
Fig. 167. This spray of black pepper shows the leaves and seven of the 
pods; the pods show a little more clearly in the row at the bottom of 
the picture. Too much pepper, mustard, and other spices are not good 
for us. They may lead to overeating and indigestion, and also interfere 
with our sleep. ALCOHOL AND OTHER HARMFUL DRUGS 
223 
Sometimes tea and coffee make people "nervous" or 
interfere with their health in other ways, such as hin- 
dering the digestion of food. 
What is your favorite food or drink? Is it anything 
that could become an injurious habit? If not, enjoy it, 
but be sure you don't eat too much. 
"Be temperate in all things" is an old rule that has 
been found a good one by all who have practiced it. 
Nearly all the men and women who have lived to a 
ripe old age have given it as the one bit of advice 
for all to heed who want to live long and happy. 
THINGS TO ASK, ANSWER, TELL, OR DO 
1. Give five reasons why alcoholic drinks should not be used. 
2. Why did Benjamin Franklin refuse to drink anything 
but water? 
3. Does alcohol give strength or take away strength? 
4. Why does the use of alcohol so often lead to poverty? 
5. Why does this book say that alcohol is like a whip? 
6. What effect does alcohol have upon the heart? 
7. Does a man lengthen or shorten his life by the use of 
alcohol? 
8. Why is the alcohol habit hard to break? 
9. Who suffers most from the alcohol habit, the one who 
has it or his family? 
10. What are some of the reasons why people do not like the 
prohibition law? 
11. Do you think their reasons are big enough to make it 
right to break the law of the United States? Give reasons for 
your answer. 
12. What other harmful drugs besides alcohol are sometimes 
used? 
13. Why should a doctor, only, give medicine to relieve pain? 224 
HEALTH FOR EVERY DAY 
14. Find a good reason why babies should not be given 
"soothing syrup." 
15. Why shouldn't people use patent medicines? 
16. What has our government done to protect us from patent 
medicines which contain alcohol or dangerous drugs? 
17. Why should we consult a doctor when we are sick instead 
of trying patent medicines? 
18. What is the chief objection to the tobacco habit? 
19. Give two bad effects which tobacco may have upon the 
body. 
20. What is the effect of tobacco upon growing children? 
21. The boy who wants a vigorous body and clear mind 
should 
should not 
use tobacco. Which? CHAPTER XI 
The ten chapters we have just finished have shown 
us how to keep strong and well. Strong, healthy bodies 
make it possible for us to enjoy our lives more, to get 
more out of our work and our play. 
But being strong and well is not enough. Our bodies 
must be under good control. The best automobile is 
not the one that has the largest body, or the strongest 
or highest powered engine. The best cars are also easily 
managed or controlled, and respond readily to the 
driver's wishes in starting, changing speed, or stopping. 
The need for self-control. Think what damage 
might be caused by a motor car if the driver could not 
control it. Much of the sorrow and misery in the 
world is caused by people who do not control them- 
selves properly. People who fail to control themselves 
usually have to suffer, and very often other people are 
annoyed, injured, or made to suffer greatly. 
A careless child may suffer when he breaks an arm, 
but is he the only one who is injured by his careless- 
ness? Who suffers most when you are sour and grumpy, 
or when you scold and whine? Who suffers when a 
child will not take proper care of his teeth, or when he 
eats too much rich food or sweets? Who is injured 
SELF-CONTROL 
225 226 
HEALTH FOR EVERY DAY 
when a man cannot control his desire for drugs or 
alcohol? 
What self-control is. All this shows the need for 
self-control. Self-control means two things: it means 
having such good control over ourselves that we can 
make ourselves do the things we ought to do and 
Fig. 168. What is wrong with this boy's reading position? Who is the 
only person in the whole world who can give this boy a better sitting 
position habit? {Photograph by Edith Ricker} 
that we can keep ourselves from doing the things we 
ought not to do. 
What things do we do which we ought not to do? 
What things do we not do which we know we ought 
to do? 
To gain self-control. The very best way to gain 
self-control is to practice it. Set yourself certain tasks 
or things to do, and do them. SELF-CONTROL 
227 
Have you any daily tasks of your own - not tasks 
that your parents or teachers make you do, but tasks 
that you set yourself and make yourself do? 
Here is a list of tasks some people find difficult to 
do, unless other people make them. Do they seem 
hard to you? Find one that will be good for you to 
do every day this week. 
1. Get out of bed the first time you are called; or 
better still, get up at the right time without being 
called. 
2. Keep a good sitting position. 
3. Keep your shoulders straight. 
4. Obey the first direction given you; don't wait 
for a second. 
5. Go to bed pleasant. 
6. Stop teasing the baby, or the cat, or the dog. 
7. Stop watching to see who has the biggest piece 
of cake or pie. 
8. Feel glad when some one else has nice gifts or 
pleasant surprises. 
9. Work when you work. 
10. Stop playing the instant you are called. 
11. Give your playmates the better seat, the first 
chance, and the larger piece of candy or fruit. 
12. Give up your play cheerfully when there is work 
that needs to be done. 
13. Come to meals on time. 
14. Hang up your clothes and air your bed properly. 
15. Finish a task, once you have begun it. 228 
HEALTH FOR EVERY DAY 
Control of our temper. Flying into a temper is a 
childish thing to do, but some people never grow 
strong enough to stop having fits of temper. If you 
have a proper regard for others, you will learn to 
control your temper. 
Besides, getting angry uses up a great deal of our 
strength or energy. Sometimes it interferes with the 
digestion of our food or with our sleep. It is not always 
easy to control our temper. That is the reason why 
the Bible says: "He that ruleth his own spirit is 
better than he that taketh a city." 
We ought to keep as cheerful and calm as we can 
ourselves, and help other people to be happy and 
cheerful. With older people, always be obedient and 
thoughtful. Obey without whining or pouting. Do 
not scold, or tease, or frighten little children. 
Control over fear. If there are things that make you 
afraid or nervous, talk with your parents or your 
teacher and find out the best way to overcome your 
fears. Some people are afraid of the dark, and some 
of thunder and lightning. The dark cannot harm you, 
and being afraid of thunder or lightning will not pro- 
tect you. Do you know any one who is afraid of 
snakes, cows, dogs, bugs, caterpillars, or any other kind 
of animal? 
Make up your mind you will overcome your fear 
right away, and go about doing this in a good, sensible 
way. 
If you have no fear of your own to overcome, see if 
there isn't another boy or girl you can help, for some- SELF-CONTROL 
229 
times little children are too shy to tell grown-ups about 
the things that make them afraid. 
Control over our appetites. The athletic coaches who 
train boys for baseball and football teams, and for 
such contests as jumping and running, are very careful 
about the food the boys eat. Often, the school has the 
boys on such teams eat at a special table - the training 
THESE TABLES RESERVED 
FOR THE BALL TEAM 
Fig. 169. Does setting aside special tables for school or college teams, 
help them avoid the temptation to eat unsuitable food? 
table. There they are sure to have plenty of the right 
kinds of food, and they aren't tempted by seeing food 
they should not eat. 
Once, after a team had lost a football game, they 
found that the player who had spoiled their chances 
of winning by not playing as well as he usually did, 
had "broken his training." He had been eating a box 
or more of candy every day, just because he had 230 
HEALTH FOR EVERY DAY 
formed the habit of chewing something all the time he 
studied. Of course he might have made the same 
mistakes, even if he had obeyed the rules. But the 
boys in the school and the coach didn't feel that way 
about it. "Anyhow," they said, "he didn't try his 
best to win for the school." They called him a baby, 
because they said he acted like a spoiled baby that 
had to have everything it wanted; and they put 
another boy in his place, because he was too great a 
risk to keep on the team. 
Another boy on a football team drank some liquor 
the night before the last and most important game of 
the season. He let a forward pass go over his head, 
and so lost the game. His team-mates believe to this 
day that his drink of liquor was the cause of their 
defeat. 
Self-control in the home. What is the thing that 
makes most trouble for you at home? Often there is 
some one little thing that annoys your parents because 
they feel sure you are forming a habit that you will 
find hard to break - a habit which will be unpleasant 
for other people, or one that will prevent you from 
being or doing all you should be or do, and so make 
you unhappy. 
Perhaps you always take and keep the best seat. 
It may be that your slowness in dressing in the morning 
delays breakfast, makes you late for school, and upsets 
the whole family. You may have some little habit of 
annoying people when they want to be left alone, or 
of sulking when you can't have your own way. You SELF-CONTROL 
231 
may have a mean trick of teasing the younger children. 
There is nothing meaner than teasing others about 
things they cannot help, such as having freckles or 
being cross-eyed. You may have a habit that affects 
yourself more than other people, such a bad habit as 
biting or picking your finger nails. 
Whatever it may be, you yourself know where you 
lack self-control, and you know how to make things 
happy and pleasant. You're the only one who can do 
it too. Try now, and see how long you can keep it up. 
Can you go without things that are not good for 
you? Can you make yourself do the things you know 
you ought to do, or which your teachers and parents 
want you to do? 
Self-control is the most difficult task in the world. 
In how many ways do you rule yourself? Do you 
refuse candy before meals because you know it is not 
good for you, or because you are afraid your mother 
will find you out? Do you keep at your practicing or 
at your work in the garden or at the woodpile every 
minute of the assigned half hour just because you are 
afraid some one will tell on you if you do not? 
Self-control through kind deeds. The Boy Scouts 
have for one of their rules, "Do a kind deed every day." 
There is a rule that would make better, kinder people 
than that rule, good as it is. It is, "Every day, do 
pleasantly some good thing that isn't your first choice." 
Do something that puts some one else first. Don't 
just do some little easy thing, even though it may be 
a kind deed, but do something that takes strong will 232 
HEALTH FOR EVERY DAY 
power; something that makes you say to yourself, 
"I'll do this because it's right; the harder it is the more 
I am determined to do it." That is the spirit that 
makes real men and women. 
Self-control through truth telling. Do you tell the 
truth even when you know you will be punished? Do 
you do it just because you are afraid your parents 
know the truth anyhow - or because you will not let 
yourself do a cowardly thing like lying? 
William Henley, an English poet, once wrote a poem 
in which he said, 
I am the master of my fate: 
I am the captain of my soul. 
Who is the captain or master of your boat - or has it 
several different captains, who run it whenever they 
like? Fear and anger and selfishness and greed and 
lying aren't safe captains to trust with any boat. 
Keeping busy. Many of the little quarrels and 
squabbles among children begin when they have noth- 
ing to do - while waiting for meals to be served, or 
for the time to start to school or church. When chil- 
dren are idle, they are much more likely to get into all 
kinds of trouble than when they are busy. You have 
all heard the old saying: 
Satan finds some mischief still 
For idle hands to do. 
Some people never waste a minute. If they wake 
up early, they use that extra time to plan something 
they are interested in, or to read something they know SELF-CONTROL 
233 
they won't have time to read after the regular day's 
work begins. 
Once a boy had to travel on the trolley to school, 
most of the way along an ugly railroad track where 
freight cars were standing. Nothing could be more 
tiresome than that ride, some people said. But this 
boy kept a list of all the names of railroads he saw, 
found the full names for all the abbreviations, traced 
outline maps of the United States from his geography, 
and put in the railroads he found. That boy didn't 
have to go to school to learn geography. 
There are many interesting things that people can 
do in their odd minutes. Some girls carry knitting in 
their pockets or handbags. Some boys whittle or do 
word puzzles or other interesting things. While you're 
waiting for dinner, race with your brothers to see who 
can get the most words beginning with d, the most 
words that end in r, or something of that kind. 
Try making lists of rhyming words. One person 
begins with "man," the other one says "can," and so 
on; the one who fails first loses the game, and the win- 
ner can start a new rhyme set. 
Keep a pencil and pad in your pocket, and when 
you have a few minutes try other kinds of word games. 
You can play them alone. Say to yourself, "I believe 
I can get at least fifteen other words out of the word 
"Washington," and then see if you can beat the number 
you set. Or take the first thing you see out of the 
window - tree, or smoke, or hoe - and find out how 
many rhymes you can make for it, or see how many 234 
HEALTH FOR EVERY DAY 
words you know that have the same number of 
letters. 
There is no better time than such odd minutes to 
study your spelling list. Haven't you a list of the words 
you've missed this term? Or why not keep that Jast 
multiplication table on a little study card? 
Good manners show self-control. We have men- 
tioned many things that show how important it is to 
have good self-control. In everyday living, in very 
little things, we find many opportunities to exercise 
self-control. Do you always greet each member of 
your family with a pleasant "Good morning"? Do 
you say politely at the proper times such words as, 
"Excuse me," "If you please," and "I am sorry"? 
Do you smile, or do you look glum when you meet 
people? Do you do something at every meal to help 
make it a pleasant and interesting time for the rest of 
the family? 
Make yourself do things in the nicest way you can. 
Don't mutter "Thanks" under your breath, but take 
time to say "Thank you" pleasantly and distinctly. 
Haste is not a very good excuse for bad manners. 
Most people show bad manners when they are in a 
hurry because good manners haven't become a habit, not 
because there isn't time to do things in the right way. 
Watch the people you know and you will see that 
those who have the best self-control greet others pleas- 
antly even when they are worried or tired; they do small 
favors courteously; and they are never too busy or 
hurried to thank politely those who do them a service. SELF-CONTROL 
235 
THINGS TO ASK, ANSWER, TELL, OR DO 
1. How many suffer when you get angry and do and say 
disagreeable things? 
2. Finish this sentence: "I read on page in Chapter 
that self-control means ." 
3. Make a list of things Which you need to learn for self- 
control. 
4. How many of the fifteen tasks listed do you do easily 
and happily? 
5. Which is the hardest task? Is it too hard for you? 
6. Give as many reasons as you can think of why you 
should learn to control your temper. 
7. Tell a story of some case of lack of control of appetite 
causing misfortune. 
8. Find a rule which, if followed, would make real men 
and women of boys and girls. 
9. Which will develop a strong character-truth telling for 
its own sake, or truth telling because it is necessary? 
10. What do you do to keep busy in your odd moments? 
11. Make a poster about self-control. 
12. Sum up all the points in this book which lead to self- 
control. SUGGESTIONS TO TEACHERS WHO USE THIS BOOK 
Laura Zirbes 
The content of this book, Health for Every Day, illustrates 
certain changes in educational aims, methods, and emphasis, in a 
manner which should be apparent on examination. In textbooks 
like this, which stress content values and provide numerous 
stimuli to action and inquiry, reading must be subordinated 
and made to serve or function. Reading thus becomes incidental 
in that it sets off, starts, or contributes to trains of thought, 
realizations of value, interest and inquiry, direct observation, 
vicarious experience, changes of attitude, and the formation of 
habits. 
The old types of textbooks in this field were too often unin- 
teresting arrays of classified facts for which children had little 
interest and less use. They were merely intended to be learned 
and stored away for possible reference at some deferred date. 
Lest they be forgotten, there was usually some formal require- 
ment for recitation, retention, recall, review, and sometimes the 
facts were rearranged for reiteration in combination with other 
facts on more mature levels, where again formal requirements 
necessitated rereading in preparation for recitation and deferred 
recall, perhaps reorganization in terms of a review assignment, 
or rehashed and rehearsed in preparation for examinations. 
The repeated use of the prefix re is essential to a description of 
the educational methods which emphasized the ability to trace 
a morsel of food through the alimentary canal, to trace a drop of 
blood through the circulatory system, to name all the bones 
in the upper and lower limbs, to classify muscles and describe 
I ii 
SUGGESTIONS TO TEACHERS 
other tissues of the body, to name the layers of the skin, or de- 
scribe the interior structure of the eye, naming all parts and 
describing their function. This information was the means of 
passing tests and examinations in the elementary grades, the 
high school, normal school, and college. It was also one of 
several hurdles which had to be run in order to become a 
licensed teacher or secure a life certificate. 
For over fifteen years the writer was required by state law 
and city courses of study to impart this body of information 
to children. Nevertheless, it has remained an isolated body 
of organized facts which has had very little influence on the 
writer's life, or appreciable effect on the subsequent life-conduct, 
habits, or attitudes of the thousand or more children who have 
sat under her instruction. 
But here the writer has an opportunity to cooperate in a pro- 
ject by means of which children will learn how to live more fully 
and more happily. Facts will not be learned in isolation but 
in meaningful situations, vividly portrayed, and related to existing 
interests and needs. Lessons will not be recited, but reflected in 
attitudes and habits. Useful information will not be systema- 
tized for "cold storage," but will instead be abstracted from the 
matrix in which actual and vicarious experience are psycho- 
logically merged. Physiology and hygiene will not be school 
subjects but abiding life-interests. Health and safety regula- 
tions will not be external impositions of law and rule, but prefer- 
ences and habits based on insight into sound values and human 
relationships. And in the achievement of this project, reading 
should play a helpful part. While it is used incidentally, its 
service is so significant and crucial that the manner of its use 
must not be left to accident. Readings must on no account be 
assigned by chapter or page, as tasks to be completed. That 
puts the emphasis on reading and on the completion of an assign- 
ment, but it does not guarantee purposeful attack nor give the 
content a fair chance. Nor should a child be allowed to read 
a book of this sort as he would read a simple narrative or light SUGGESTIONS TO TEACHERS 
iii 
fiction. This book is so full of stimuli to thought action and 
inquiry that rapid independent cursory reading would provide an 
excess of stimuli in such rapid succession that there would be no 
time for appropriate response and related activity. The psycho- 
logical effects would then be overstimulation and underassimila- 
tion. 
The undesirable after-effects are no less real than the physical 
effects of habitual gorging or overeating. But that does not 
imply that the book is to be used as a catechism, or that the facts 
should be "drilled in" by an unduly intensive attempt at mas- 
tery, chapter by chapter. 
But what are the questions for, if not for that purpose? And 
what alternatives are left after these three ways are barred? 
In the first place, learning is not memorizing, but a changing 
as a result of experience. Drill may drum facts into a child, 
but if the acquired facts do not mix with the child's past ex- 
periences and present life-interests, there is little warrant for 
the hope that they may affect future acts, thoughts, or feelings. 
Thus a book about bodily welfare, personal habits, standards 
of cleanliness, and healthful living loses much of the helpful 
effect which it would otherwise have by didactic treatment and 
routine formal assignment. 
The aims of this book may best be served by making its 
use so much like out-of-school experience that there is no sharp 
line between precept and practice. First, the child should al- 
ways read with the stimulus of a worthwhile purpose. Good 
"purpose" stimuli should carry the child through the silent 
reading of a considerable portion of material in one sitting. 
Such stimuli must take their cue from the child's interests 
and experiences. They must not be so specific that the child 
misses everything but one particular detail which is emphasized. 
They should rather hold the child's mind open to everything 
and make for the ready recall of personal experiences which are 
associated in any way with what is read. They must engage 
attention and enlist activity. Such purposes must in other iv 
SUGGESTIONS TO TEACHERS 
words arise in the child from the nature of the situation. The 
very nature of these requirements makes it both impossible 
and undesirable to be didactic in these suggestions. To say 
to a teacher, "This is the way to begin" - or "This is the 
question which should be asked" is to violate the very prin- 
ciples herein presented. 
It is allowable, however, to give varied illustrations of possible 
approaches, to show how purposes arise, and how current hap- 
penings furnish points of contact. 
Introducing the Book as a Whole. Any child's illness or ab- 
sence can open a brief discussion of reasons for absence, which 
in turn can lead to interest in avoiding absence - and this 
gives point to the rapid perusal of the book and a realiza- 
tion of the numerous factors that influence health. There is 
really no reason why the chapters must be taken in order. 
The nature of the material makes it quite possible to utilize 
chapters in any order which the needs of a particular group 
may suggest. 
But the content of most of the chapters is so rich in sug- 
gestions for approach that it should be relatively easy to set 
up real purposes for reading. A few illustrations will suffice. 
Suggestions on Chapter I. Unfortunately examples of acci- 
dents are numerous. Carelessness and narrow escapes furnish 
equally psychological approaches. The purpose to avoid need- 
less injury in every possible way leads to the purpose to read 
about ways of avoiding accident. Newspaper accounts of 
accidents furnish another possible point of departure. 
Suggestions on Chapter II. After an outdoor play period a 
teacher may ask children how they spent their time. She may 
say that she is just as eager to have them play as she is to 
have them work, and ask whether they know why she wants 
them to play. After a few guesses they may be told that 
Chapter II will give them all her reasons, but that it tells some 
other interesting things first. This will suffice to keep chil- 
dren alert through about four pages. It may be well to say: SUGGESTIONS TO TEACHERS 
V 
"The end of the chapter is not about play. See whether you 
know just where to stop to-day. We will stop reading when 
we come to the part that is not about play. If you read care- 
fully, I think you can guess what we are going to do." There 
should then be some opportunity for children to show where 
they stopped reading. The teacher may then say, "That was 
almost like a game, wasn't it? Now, who can guess what we 
are going to do?" Various games should be played to illus- 
trate the variety of types of play. This may lead back to 
the book. The teacher may say, "We want to play as many 
different kinds of games as possible. What were some of the 
kinds of play that you read about? Even if we could name 
them all we could not play them all here, could we?" As the 
games proceed, some points of value may be brought out by 
questions like the following: "Why was this a good game?" 
The next day's reading may proceed from a contrast of play 
with work, or from a brief exercise period which is proposed 
because the temperature has been reduced, or because children 
have been confined to their seats. After the reading certain 
exercises may be used illustratively. 
Introducing Other Chapters. It should not be necessary to 
indicate how reading purposes may arise from materials, chil- 
dren's questions, pictures, cases of discipline, or need. The 
child who is habitually late furnishes opportunity for discuss- 
ing the topic of Chapter III. The child who puts things into 
his mouth introduces Chapter VIII. The child whose hands 
are dirty when he comes to school points to the value of Chap- 
ter VII before and after reading. The child who has no handker- 
chief, the child who munches candy between meals, the child 
who holds his book too close to his eyes, all furnish oppor- 
tunities or leads which may be utilized. The presence of a 
little microscope may also lead to Chapter VIII. A sudden 
change in weather may lead to Chapter VI. But the teacher 
need not wait for the weather. Pictures of fur-bearing animals 
prove equally effective. vi 
SUGGESTIONS TO TEACHERS 
After Silent Reading-What? If the first silent reading of 
a chapter is purposeful, suggestions for further activity may 
be expected from the children. But the teacher must not de- 
pend too heavily on the children's initiative and should be 
ready with suggestions in case there is a need. She may say 
"Did that chapter make you want to do something? What 
was it?" Perhaps it was an experiment which the children 
would like to perform themselves. That possibility is sug- 
gested by Chapters II, IV, V, VI, VII, and VIII. Perhaps 
the chapter suggested that children "ask their teacher to show 
them or tell them something." There are instances of this sort 
in a number of chapters. Perhaps there is something to make 
or do. All such leads are interesting possibilities from which 
the most profitable and feasible must be selected. 
Uses for Silent Reading Checks and Questions. In order to 
give rapid readers some responsibility while others are finish- 
ing, it is well to provide questions for study, problems which 
require skimming to locate data or assignments of some other 
sort. If the teacher has reason to wonder whether children 
read or skip about without actually getting meaning, she will 
find the following checks and questions particularly helpful. 
They should also be useful in suggesting topics for discussion 
and report. 
The numbered checks which are to be found at the end of 
each chapter have been arranged in the sequence in which they 
are suggested by the text. A teacher will rarely wish to hold 
each child for every check, but can easily make selections to 
suit the needs as she finds them. The questions also show the 
stimulus value of the reading matter, the wealth and variety 
of learning possibilities which it provides. 
Children should often be allowed to choose questions or 
assignments for report. There should also be group activities, 
and these are facilitated by the provision of possible checks. 
Teachers should notice how varied the reading responses 
may be. Some questions require the selection of data, others SUGGESTIONS TO TEACHERS 
VII 
the organization, still others the location of information. In 
some cases children summarize stories; in other cases they 
extract the total meaning or point of an illustration. Again, 
they express ideas in action, or in drawings, or in dramatization. 
This variety is not accidental, but essential and purposeful. 
Impromptu questions could hardly be expected to cover as 
wide a range of objectives as the checks which have been 
grouped under "Things to Ask, Answer, Tell, or Do." 
Use of Illustrations. A few suggestions will indicate how 
the illustrations in this book may serve worthwhile purposes. 
I. Have a "screen" on which you write or expose sentences 
or phrases like the following: 
Find a picture which shows: 
a dangerous toy 
a foolish boy 
a careful child 
a lucky bird 
something poisonous 
a jolly game 
a brave rescue 
a poor position 
animals at play 
a home-made shower bath 
Scores of such phrases may be made and they may serve 
varied purposes. They are far more worth while when related 
to content. Those given are very simple. 
II. Other suggestions may be more complex or may be 
made to serve other purposes. For instance, the following 
use of pictures leads to a generalization: 
1. Look for all the pictures which show that things 
need food in order to grow. Write down the numbers 
of the pictures on your paper. 
2. Prove a given point with three pictures. 
III. The following suggestions lead to a reorganization of 
ideas and a realization of new relationships: 
i. Find all the outdoor pictures. Write their numbers 
under one of the following headings: 
A Good Place to Be 
A Bad Place to Be VIII 
SUGGESTIONS TO TEACHERS 
2. Find all the pictures which have a boy or a girl in 
them. Write their numbers under these headings: 
Things I Should Like to Do Too 
Things I Should Never Do 
IV. Each of the following suggestions leads to a careful 
scrutiny of a single picture or chart. 
Find the boy who is standing straightest and tallest. 
Look for a child who seems to be afraid of the water. 
Find out how much you should weigh. 
Count the teeth which have a cutting edge. 
V. The following suggestions lead to the search for a single 
picture in a chapter which has previously been read: 
1. A child comes forward and reads a picture legend 
orally. The other children look for the picture. 
2. A group of children reproduce a picture in action 
and the first child to find the picture reads the legend 
which describes it. 
VI. A few additional values are suggested in conclusion: 
1. The teacher tells an incident or a story. The chil- 
dren find a picture which is apropos. 
2. The teacher puts the numbers of three or more 
pictures on the board. The children look up the pictures 
and give the series an appropriate name. 
3. The teacher writes a brief health story on the 
board. The children are invited to illustrate the story. 
Conclusion. The climax may well be a health pageant or 
program in which every child takes part. This furnishes an 
excellent purpose for rereading parts of the book, and a mem- 
orable means of summarizing its value.